Sins of the Father
by yas-m
Summary: Sometimes the one thing we want most no matter how right it might seem can lead to unforeseen tragic disasters. And sometimes the one thing we want most may be the reason the world falls apart. Alt ending/futurefic. What if Jack does leave with Kate & lets the island sink? Is the future they dream of possible? Or will their actions lead to tragic consequences. Ensemble story.
1. A Shephatd's Choice

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking out my new story. This one is rather special. It is something I have never tried to write before. While it is still Jate, of course, this time the Jateness takes a back seat. This is an ensemble story, set 23 years after The End. This is a sci-fi/time travel/alternate universes/Fringe meets Lost sort of fic. But also, as it was always the case in lost, the characters are what drives the story. It is about them before anything else. So please give it a chance and let me know what you think. I have never put so much effort, research and preparation into a story before. I have been preparing this for months now and I am trying to write it as professionally and of the highest of qualities. I am so excited about it and I hope you enjoy it.

**Title:** Sins of the Father  
**Summary:** Sometimes the one thing we want most, no matter how right it might seem, can lead to many unforeseen tragic disasters. And sometimes the one thing we want most, may be the reason the world falls apart.

Alternate ending / future fic. What if Jack does leave with Kate and lets the island sink?

* * *

**Chapter 1  
****A Shephard's Choice**

**December 5, 2030  
****Present**

The sight of a dirty blond, disheveled, disoriented middle-aged man was not one that was uncommon in the emergency room of New York General Hospital, it was after all the apocalypse, as some have coined it. Whatever the name for it was, it was definite that the past decade or so had been the end of the world. As a matter of fact, a man walking in with no physical injuries to be seen, with only a case of confusion and dehydration, was a welcome change to the daily flood of patients caught in another incident, dismembered, deformed, and more often than none, dead before they made it to the operating rooms.

The man kept mumbling incoherently as a nurse led him to one of the small check up rooms, shaking his head as he tried to make sense of the place he was in. He was unsure of almost everything except one thing, the person he was supposed to see, to talk to. The one person who could put an end to this apocalypse, the person who could save the world.

"Sir, please have a seat, and a doctor will be with you shortly," the nurse instructed the fidgety, perplexed man.

"No, no," he said, scratching the back of his head, messing up his already tousled hair, "I need to see Dr. Shephard."

"I think Dr. Shephard's shift just ended an hour or so ago," the nurse explained, "but I'm sure there's someone else here who will be with you right away."

"NO!" the man cried, grabbing the nurse's wrist an turning her towards him. His eyes were wide, focused and filled with a mix of fear and anticipation, "please, it has to be Dr. Shephard," he pleaded, releasing her wrist apologetically, "you don't understand, it has to be _him_."

The nurse was walking over towards the Nurses' station to try to page Dr. Shephard when she bumped into a young brunette doctor.

"Jules!" she said in surprise, "what are you still doing here?"

"I switched shifts with Marcus, so I'm here for another 24 hours," Jules sighed.

The nurse put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, "I have no idea how you do it, but I guess that's why you're the best," she said with a wink.

Jules huffed sarcastically, "yeah, my coffee addiction, that's what."

"Listen, could you go check on the guy in 23? It's nothing serious, but I think the guy's a little out of it, probably needs something to help him sleep it over," the nurse told Jules.

* * *

_**December 14, 2007**_

_The ground shook at their feet, rumbling and quaking, as they watched the island start collapsing across the bay. Mountains that had stood high and might minutes ago were reduced to rubble that quickly sank and disappeared into the ocean. Even with Locke dead, their job was obviously not over. There was more to do, Jack knew that much, and he also knew there was probably not enough time to do it and still get off the island._

"_We've gotta go now!" Sawyer cried, as another tremble sent them all to their knees again. He looked over the cliff and swallowed a gasp. It was steep, probably too steep, but it was their only choice if they wanted to make it to the Elizabeth and onto the smaller island._

_Kate swallowed hard, the pain in her shoulder agonizing but the confusion and fear overshadowing any gunshot wound. "I don't understand," she said, "Locke's dead, why is this is still happening?"_

_They turned to Jack, and he saw their faces, fear, anticipation, and confusion. He wished the job had come with the power to calm the people around him, but it only came with the recognition of the inevitable. "Because whatever Desmond turned off, I need to turn it back on again," he explained._

_He understood now, whatever it was that Desmond had done, it had to be temporary, turning off the light had made the smoke monster mortal, but it also made him weak. Most importantly, whatever it was that was holding the island together had also been turned off. The island, the light, it was all collapsing and it was his job to put it back together before it was too late. He had to fix this. That was his job._

"_But if it doesn't work, if I don't get it done, you all need to leave now. You need to be on that plane," he said, feeling Kate's gaze bore through him. This was it. He knew it. There as no doubt left in his mind now._

_Kate, on the other hand, she wouldn't accept it, not after everything they had been through. "You can come with us too, Jack," she said, lifting painfully off the rock to come closer to him, hoping she would have the strength, the right words to convince him, "you don't have to do this."_

_He heard the pleading tone of her voice, and as much as it pained him, he looked up to meet her eyes, "No, I do have to," he said, praying she would understand that this would be his one redeeming task, the one thing that would make all his past sins and mistakes, all the times he had hurt her, redeemable._

_She shook her head, angry, desperate, tired and scared. "You don't!" she emphasized, "Let the island sink, Jack," she begged, kneeling down next to him, her hand on his leg, her eyes searching deep in his._

_He looked at her, the pain and sadness in his eyes matching hers, his voice cracking as he said, "I can't."_

* * *

"Good evening, sir," Jules said, "what seems to be the trouble tonight?"

"Who are you?" the man replied fervently, getting up to his feet, his fists clenched by his side, "I said I want Dr. Shephard! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! We are running out of time, the world is coming to an end and they send me a kid! I do not have time to waste!"

Jules took a deep breath, this was obviously going to be another very long twenty four hours. Injured people, dying people, those she knew how to handle, but madmen, prophets and the psychos were never her thing. "Sir, will you please calm down. I am Dr. Shephard," she said pointing to her badge, "Dr. Julie Shephard. Now can you please tell me how I can help."

"Listen, I don't know what that nurse heard me say, but I need to talk to Dr. Jack Shephard, not you," he huffed in frustration.

Jules clenched her jaw tight, "Sir, I'm afraid my father is retired. He is no longer practicing medicine," she explained calmly, "but I am sure whatever it is, I can help you."

She watched as the man sat back down, further more dejected and confused than he was when she first walked in. "Your... your father? retired?" he said, dropping his head between his hands, "I'm too late... it's too late..."

"Sir?" Jules asked, really tempted to give the man a sedative and let him relax, but also intrigued as to why he was asking for her father, no one had asked about him in any hospital for a long time, not since around the time his wife passed away and he disappeared from the world.

The man finally stopped mumbling and stood back up, walking towards the young doctor, shocking her with his next actions. He took her face in his hands, gently, studying closely. He saw it then. The sharp, warm hazel eyes, the brown wavy hair, the freckles, "of course, you're Jack and Kate's daughter... So they just... they left the island, he left with her. That's why you're alive... that's why it all started," he said. He did not ask or inquire; he said it plainly, as if he had known for years. Jules nodded slowly. "What year is it?" he asked.

"It's... it's 2030, sir...I'm sorry, but who are you?" Jules said, pulling back away from him.

"I'm Jacob."

* * *

"_What do you mean you can't?" Kate cried, tears threatening to spill as she realized she was running out of time. Jack had his mind set, and she knew how stubborn he could be. But she needed him, especially now, even if he refused to see it, if he refused to believe there was still a chance for them._

_It's the one thing in my life I haven't managed to ruin._

_She had forgiven him, a very long time ago. But she was almost as stubborn as he was, and they had wasted so much time._

"_Kate, I need to do this… this… it's why the island brought me back. It's my destiny," he said._

_Kate huffed, pushed off in anger and stood above him, "your destiny? Your destiny…" she said disbelievingly, "Your destiny is with me! I need you! I can't do this without you! Not THIS!" she cried, the tears finally streaming unabashedly down her face. _

_The earth hadn't stopped trembling and shaking, the island still falling apart, and that was Kate's last chance to finally tell him the truth. _

_Jack pressed a palm against his wound and pushed painfully off the ground, hissing at the rupturing throbbing wound. "Kate, please," he pleaded softly. Getting her to safety his only concern as he knew there were only minutes before the whole island sunk to the bottom of the ocean. He tried to comprehend her words. She wanted him back? Had she forgiven him? He pushed those thoughts back. It did not matter what she said. He knew better than to let his emotions conquer his resolve at this moment. The only way he can deserve her forgiveness was to complete his job, to get her as far away from the island as possible._

"_Jack, I'm pregnant," she blurted out, watching for a moment as his eyes widened in disbelief before she turned her back to him, too scared to face more of his rejection after finally admitting to him what she had known for a few days._

_She hadn't planned to tell him while they were still on the island. She had imagined they would kill Locke and go back home and then she would tell him._

"_You're… you're…" Jack choked, completely in shock at Kate's confession, he out a hand to her shoulder, urging her to turn around to face him, "you're pregnant? It's my…?" he mumbled, incapable of forming proper, coherent thoughts. How could he have been so careless? How could he have put her through all that when she was pregnant?_

"_Of course it's yours!" she cried, "and I can't do this without you, Jack, I just can't!" she wept as she dropped her head onto his chest, finally collapsing, mentally and physically. She had played all her cards. She needed Jack to leave the island with her, and that was all she had to convince him. "I can't have this child alone. I can't raise our child alone. I can't," she mumbled tearfully against his chest._

_Jack hugged her, pulling her even tighter against him, ignoring the stinging pain in his side. His hand found her hair, fingers drowning in the sea of curls, his lips landing on the top of her head. Jack swallowed hard. He was going to be a father. This was Kate. His Kate, pregnant with his child. This was their chance to finally be a family again. A real family. He had his pledge to the island. But he had killed Locke, was that not what he had promised her he would do? Maybe it was too late to save the island. He knew that if he stayed he would die, never finding his way back to her. Holding her in his arms, feeling her pain, trusting her words, her fear that she needed him, sensing the trust she had in him becoming a father. She clung to him, her fingers clutching to his shirt, for dear life. _

_She looked up at him, wide, frightened green eyes, red with tears, bottom lip quivering, "Please, Jack."_

_He swallowed, closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke the words that would later be the more fateful than anyone could have imagined, three words that would change the world, "Ok, let's go."_

* * *

"Jacob... Jacob who?" Jules said, growing impatient with the man.

"I'm Jacob..." he said again, finding it hard to explain further, never having to do it ever before, "from the island?" he added, hoping that would ring a bell.

Jules just shook her head, "is that supposed to mean something?"

"They never told you?" he asked incredulously when he realized she really had no clue who he was.

Jules sat down across the room from him, "never told me what?" she asked irritated.

"About the island? About what happened? About what they were supposed to do? Protecting the island? The light? Your father's job?" he asked, shocked that they would really keep something that big from their child for that long.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," Jules said, "I know what they met on an island when their plane crashed on the way from Sydney in 2004, but that's about it. I've never heard of anyone protecting an island, or a light, or you."

"It's true, your parents did meet in 2004 when they came to the island, for the first time," Jacob said, talking calmly to try to explain the confused young doctor, what he knew will sound implausible. "But they came back to the island again, to save their friends, and to fulfill their destiny. To save the island and protect it. Your father was not supposed to leave. I don't know what happened to change his mind, to make him leave... but him leaving is why this is happening to the world."

Jules just stared at him, mouth agape, and eyes wide in bewilderment. Did he just say that her father was responsible for the end of the world?

"When did it all start?" Jacob asked, not bothering to give her time to react.

"What?" she asked, still trying to comprehend the man's story.

"When was the first incident?" Jacob asked again, growing impatient as he was trying to figure out what must be done next.

"Umm.. umm... it was 2012... I'm sorry I don't..." Jules mumbled.

"Listen, Julie... I know this is hard to understand, but you are going to have to focus with me here, I cannot stay much longer," Jacob said, waling over to her and kneeling in front of her, taking her hands in his. "When your father left the island, he let it... disappear. The island... it is a special place. It had to be protected because it kept the world protected, safe. With the island gone, the world is collapsing onto itself. Your father was special and that was why it was his job to protect it. For one reason or another, he could not, but it's not too late. He is still the island protector, even if he does not believe it. You are his daughter, it's going to have to be you. You have to bring them back together, all of them, everyone from the Oceanic flight who is still alive, everyone from he island, everyone of the children born or conceived on the island." Jacob said with focused concentration.

"You are the one who will have to save the world. Save us all." He said with a sigh, giving her hand a squeeze.

"What am I supposed to do? I have no idea what you are talking about! What _island_? What do you mean _save the worl_d? This is _insane_! I don't know who you are or what you want from _me_!" Jules cried, pulling away from him and getting up to her feet.

"I know... I know this sounds insane. I know I probably sound like a madman. But you have to believe me. Talk to your father. Make him tell you the truth. None of this was supposed to happen. Jack was never supposed to leave the island. The world was not supposed to start collapsing like this. All these people were not supposed to die. I was not supposed to reappear. Jack was not supposed to survive." Jacob said, trying hard to make her believe.

"_You_ were not supposed to be born."

- END OF CHAPTER 1 -

* * *

So… what do you think? Reviews/feedback/comments are love


	2. All The Best Cowgirls Have Daddy Issues

Thank you all for the amazing, enthusiastic and encouraging reviews! I am so glad and excited that you are excited about it too. Like I said this one is pretty special. I'm not going to ramble much, so here's chapter 2. Just one thing, I have a 5 year old cousin (a boy) and a 2 year old cousin (a girl) and I'm using them to write 5 yo Aaron and 1 yo Julie in this chapter.

Oh, and I am kind of associating each chapter with a theme song. This chapter's song is "My Little Girl" for Tim McGraw

Enjoy!

* * *

_Gotta hold on easy as I let you go._

_Gonna tell you how much I love you, though you think you already know._

_I remember I thought you looked like an angel wrapped in pink so soft and warm._

_You've had me wrapped around your finger since the day you were born._

_You're beautiful baby from the outside in._

_Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again._

_Go on, take on this whole world._

_But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl._

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**All The Best Cowgirls Have Daddy Issues**

**December 5, 2030**

Julie sat in the emergency room for a while after Jacob excused himself and left. She sat staring blankly at the wall, a cloud of confusion and disbelief looming over her. The things he had said had to be lies, tales fabricated in the disturbed mind of a man who obviously suffered from some sort of mental condition. But yet there was this odd feeling she could not shake, the feeling that every word he had uttered was the truth. He had said things, about her parents and their friends, that no other person should know. And when he spoke, he did so with an air of confidence and his words were sure and convincing. She closed her eyes, hoping to open them and realize she was waking up from a strange dream brought upon by her endless waking hours and crazy sleeping patterns, or at least open them to realize it was just another elaborate prank by Marcus or one of the other doctors.

She closed her eyes and went over the things he had told her. Her father was chosen as a protector of some strange, magical island. He was supposed to stay on the island, but for some reason, he left. He left the island unprotected and it sunk. The island was what kept the world together and by sinking, it took the world down with it. Slowly, the world started collapsing onto itself, killing itself, and it was only a matter of months before... before it all ended. Jules opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Jacob was clear in his instructions. When her father left the island, he created an unexpected split in the course of fate. His leaving created a timeline branching out of what was meant to be. He had to stay on the island. He was supposed to protect it and keep the world safe. Her mother was supposed to leave the island, was supposed to leave her father behind. Her mother was supposed to have a miscarriage and Jules was not supposed to be born. Jacob had said that without flinching, as if telling a person they were not supposed to exist was the most casual thing to do. Jacob had a plan; a plan that would course correct the universe and set it back to where it was supposed to be. But he could not be the one to put this plan into action because according to him, "he did not belong to this realm of existence."

Jules cursed under her breath, kicking herself for even allowing her mind to dwell on his words. But it wasn't her to just dismiss something like that, especially when she was told that it was her job to save the world. Jacob's plan involved a lot of people, but he was clear and insisted that it had to be her that brought all those people together. She had to bring all of them together, the survivors of the original plane crash and the ones who left the island. They needed to be together because their connection to the island will be the force needed to set in motion the course correction. She also needed to gather the children, those who were born or conceived on the island, children of the survivors, because as Jacob had put it "the island made them special, giving them the powers and tools needed to implement the course correction".

Jules let out a laugh, "You need a shower and good night's sleep," she told herself out loud, pushing off the seat and heading towards the locker rooms. She hoped a nice shower and some rest would help her mind rest and forget the ramblings of that madman. They had to be nonsense, and she silently berated herself for letting him to get to her even in the slightest. What was happening to the world was no one's fault, especially not her father's. And just because a group of people met on an island, that did not mean they had become some secret army that she needed to lead into battle.

She walked slowly towards the showers, her steps tired and heavy. But with every tread she took, she could hear Jacob's voice in the back of her head, _You are the one who will have to save the world. Save us all._

As much as she tried to shrug off what she had just been told, she was still the daughter of Jack Shephard and Kate Austen.

* * *

_**July 11, 2009**_

"_Dadda!" Julie cried in excitement when her father walked into the kitchen. "How's my birthday girl?" Jack greeted her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. Julie was sitting in her high chair, with a few biscuits in a Nemo plate in front of her while her mother was busy around the kitchen. It was Julie's first birthday party, having turned one earlier that week, but she, of course, was ambivalent of the whole thing. To her, it was a day just like any other, as she watched her father excitedly, looking forward to their morning ritual; him carrying her to the living room, where she would crawl onto his lap and watch cartoons as she drank her morning bottle._

_Jack walked over to Kate, cautiously, uncertain if she had forgiven him. "Good morning," he said gently, coming up behind her, placing his hand on the small of her back. She turned to meet him, a warm smile spreading across her face. She reached up, running her fingers through his hair, loving that he had left them to grow out. "Good morning," she whispered back, rising on her tip toes to kiss him, proving to him that she had in fact forgiven him. "So, is the decoration to your approval?" he said, motioning to the birthday decorations set up around the house. She bit her lip, "I'm sorry about last night, Jack," she said._

_Jack shook his head, "No, no, you had every right to be pissed, I said I was going to be home at five and I didn't call to say I was going to be late" he said. Kate shook her head, "No, you were stuck in surgery. There was nothing you could have done," she said, kissing him before he had a chance to argue with her. She did feel bad about her reaction the previous evening, especially when she woke to see that he had in fact stayed up and finish all the decorating he had promised to come home early and finish. The house looked great and she knew it must have taken him a long time since she did not remember when he had come back to bed._

"_Why don't you make Julie her bottle, watch TV with her and when she falls asleep, you can come up and join me for a shower," she whispered seductively, biting her lower lip._

_Jack pulled her close to him, pinning her between him and the kitchen counter, "Can't I just get her to sleep right now, without the whole introduction, and we can take a long bath?" he coaxed._

"_Mmmm, that would be great, but I know you would hate yourself and be grumpy all day if you missed morning cartoons and cuddling with your princess," she winked at him. Jack knew she was right. His favorite part of the day was his morning ritual with his daughter, it was something he never missed, no matter what he had planned for the day. His assistant even knew that she should not set any appointments for him early in the morning any more._

_Jack kissed Kate one last time before letting her go upstairs. He prepared Julie's bottle and pulled the little girl, who had not stopped babbling since he walked into the kitchen, up from her chair and carried her to their favorite couch. _

* * *

**December 6, 2030**

Julie pulled a jacket out of her locker and set in on the bench next to her. She was kneeling to tie her shoes when the door to the locker room opened. "Still here, Jules?" came the voice from the door. It was Marcus, Julie's boyfriend for almost four months. "Yeah, I just finished. How was the seminar?" she asked.

"It was good," he said, coming to sit next to her, "thanks for covering my shift," he added. "No problem," she replied, rubbing her forehead with her thumb and index finger, "how was Dr. Svensson's lecture?" she asked. "It was great," Marcus said, "your father didn't show up though," he added.

Dr. Shephard had been invited to lecture at the seminar, which attracted the world's top scientists, researchers and doctors to discuss the possible opportunities for the near future in containing the incidents and caring for the victims. "Of course he wouldn't, Marcus, what were they expecting?" Julie answered disdainfully. "Well, they were expecting that one of the brightest, most talented and most experienced men in this world would put an effort in help saving what is left of the world," Marcus replied, a little harsher than he had intended.

Julie was flustered, standing up quickly and standing above where Marcus stood. "You know what? My father does not owe the world anything! It is not his fault this is happening! He already gave _so_ much! When the rest of the world was just sitting back waiting for what would happen next, my father working, helping people, he did so much before any of those people even bother to look at what was happening! And he lost everything! My mother died because my father was trying to save this world!" Julie snapped, grabbing her jacket and rushing towards the door.

Marcus sat back, stunned and speechless. He knew his words came out harsher than he'd intended but he did not expect Julie's reaction. He quickly got up, sprinting to her before she got out the door. "Jules, Jules," he said, reaching her and grabbing her shoulder, "Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Julie turned around, fighting the angry tears that threatened to spill, "No you shouldn't… but I shouldn't have snapped like that either," she apologized, realizing she was probably a little too harsh on him, "It's been a long day, I'm just gonna head on home."

Marcus nodded, kissing her forehead quickly, "will I see you tonight?" he asked.

"I dunno… I'm just really tired, and I haven't seen my family in over three days. I think I'm going to spend the day with them, get a decent night's sleep, and I'll see you tomorrow," she said, smiling apologetically.

* * *

_"Uncle Hurley!" Aaron shrieked as he jumped out of the back seat of his mother's car onto the driveway of Jack and Kate's house. Hurley parked his yellow Hummer behind Claire's car and stepped out, greeting the little boy with equal excitement, "Little Dude!" he said, scooping Aaron and tossing him playfully into the air._

"_Did you remember the presents?" Aaron asked urgently. They had spent the whole day before, Aaron, Hurley and Claire, buying Julie's birthday present. "Of course I did," Hurley replied with a laugh, motioning towards the trunk of his car. "Do you think we went overboard?" Claire asked jokingly._

"_What? No, of course not!" Hurley said, looking over the gifts in his trunk. They had easily bought her over thirty gifts. "It is the job of the aunt slash godmother and uncle slash godfather to spoil the birthday girl with ridiculous amount of presents," Hurley laughed._

_Claire laughed, "Well, I do not remember reading that in the pamphlet, but I am pretty sure Kate and Jack are not gonna enjoy us spoiling her that much," she said. "Ha! They're ones to talk," Hurley said, "I overheard jack talking about a pony the other day. They're the ones spoiling her, not us."_

_Aaron sprinted excitedly to the door and rose to his tiptoes to reach the doorbell, hopping anxiously across the porch. "Uncle Jack!" he said enthusiastically when the door swung open. , "Come see all the gifts we got Julie!" he said, pulling at his uncle's hand towards the car._

"_Kate is going to kill you guys, you know that right?" Jack teased when he saw the trunk of Hurley's car, before kissing his sister's cheek and patting his friend on the back, "she already ripped my head off for the whole pony thing, she's on a roll."_

"_Aunt Kate, we're here," Aaron announced walking into the house as he left the adults to do the heavy lifting. "Hey, sweetie," Kate beamed at the little boy who stood in the middle of the foyer admiring the decorations. "Hi Julie," he said reaching his cousin in her high chair, "happy birthday!" _

"_Kate?" Jack's voice came from he doorway, "I think we need to buy that house across the street to put these gifts in," he joked walking in a few of the wrapped packages._

"_Oh no, they didn't!" Kate gasped from the kitchen, watching as Claire and Hurley followed her husband into the house with more packages. _

_The four adults joked around about the gifts while Julie turned her attention to Aaron and started babbling mostly nonsense him. "Well, what kind of godparents would we be if we didn't spoil her silly?" Claire laughed, turning to pick her niece off the high chair and holding her close. "Look at you! I could just eat you," Claire squealed, hugging Julie tight. "Seriously, Kate, I don't understand how you can keep yourself from just gobbling her up!"_

_Kate laughed, "well, now you say that, just try spending a whole day with her," she joked running her hand over her daughter's head, "and to be honest, between you, Hurley and Jack, someone needs to be the stern one."_

_Jack convinced Hurley to join him in the backyard for some last minute touches, leaving the girls inside. Claire placed Julie in the playpen in the living room, where Aaron immediately joined her. "The house looks great," she said, "when did you manage to pull it off? When I left last night none of this was up," she inquired._

"_I kind of guilted Jack into it when he came in last night," Kate admitted with an embarrassed grin. "You didn't?" Claire giggled. "I'm afraid I did… I did feel bad about it later though," Kate said._

"_My poor brother… you better have made it up for him later," Claire teased, laughing at Kate blushing and smacking her playfully on her shoulder._

_The two women sat silently for a while, watching their children play. Despite the age difference, they seemed to get a long perfectly. Aaron was very fond and very protective of Julie, and Julie loved him very much, taking to him immediately where she usually shied away from most people. Claire suddenly laughed when Julie scrunched her nose at one of her toys. "What?" Kate asked. "She's just like you," Claire said with a smile, "what she did with her nose right there, you do that all that time when something you don't like happens."_

"_I don't… do I?" Kate laughed, raising a finger to her nose._

"_Yes, you do," Claire insisted, "and I remember the first time I saw you do it, as a matter of fact. We were on the beach, third of fourth day after the crash, and that woman… Susan, twisted her ankle and had to use Jack as a support while she walked. She leaned in a little too close, and you did that face," Claire laughed and Kate followed suit._

"_Ok, I guess I do that," Kate admitted, "but that's the first thing she does that she gets from me, I swear this girl is a spitting image of her father."_

"_Are you kidding? She is a photocopy of you!" Claire said, "actually… she's also a copy of Jack," Claire giggled causing Kate to laugh, "I guess she has taken the best of both of you… or the worst," she added, laughing mischievously. "Seriously though, she is perfect, but what child of you two wouldn't. She is going to grow up to be the most amazing woman, having taken the best of her parents. She is going to be strong willed, stubborn, smart, beautiful and obsessed with helping everyone around her."_

* * *

Julie pedaled her bike up the driveway of the large house that she had been calling home for the past eight years. They had moved into the house when they moved east in 2022, when the west coast and entire Pacific Ocean region was declared uninhabitable and the UN ended all funding for relief work in the area. It was two years after her mother's death. When they first moved into it, the house was full. It was good to be surrounded by a lot of people, family, at the time. Julie had slept with her father in his room for the first few weeks before moving into her own. Her room was between Aaron's and Ji Yeon's, across the hall from her father's, Claire's and Hurley's. Aaron and Ji Yeon had since then both moved out, but the house was still full. The large house doubled as the headquarters for one of the last surviving relief organizations, that which was started by her uncle Hurley almost fifteen years earlier.

It was still very early in the morning, but the house was already up and going. Considering the work they did covered most of what was left of the world, there was always someone awake and working, but the house had been divided to allow for its residents to maintain their privacy. The lower floors were transformed to house the relief work, while the upper floor was kept closed and private for the family, Claire, Hurley, Jack and Julie, even though she was spending more and more time in the hospital in recent months. Coming home for her was not as comforting as it was once. Claire and Hurley were always busy with work, but to be fair, never too busy for her, and ever since Aaron left on the last mission to Africa, she had no one to spend time with at home. Her father was another story. Jack Shephard was once a great man, a miracle surgeon, a world-renowned hero and the first to start relief work after the first incident. He had literally dropped everything he had, his successful medical practice, his position at one of the most prestigious hospitals and devoted his life to helping the victims of the incidents world wide, funding a lot of research and scientific projects trying to find a solution. No one had known why he had taken such interest and sacrificed so much for the cause. No one knew except for the ones who understood, the ones who knew about the island, the ones who knew about the guilt he felt gnawing at his soul. However, when his wife died, everything changed. His commitment to the cause started to wither, his drive, his purpose seemed to fade away.

Ten years later, Jack had become more of a mystery. He disappeared completely to the rest of the world. He stayed at his house almost all the time. There were times when he would lock himself in his room, in the dark and not come out for days. Other times, he would stay for days in his study, working on research, looking at maps and solving equations and scribbling numbers. And there were days when he would leave the upper floor of the house, join the crew downstairs, even venture out of the house and guest lecture at seminars and conferences.

However, through all these years, through all his ups and downs, Jack Shephard never ceased to be the devoted, caring and loving father to his daughter. When he began to slip, when the breakdown was starting, Jack had lost faith in everything except for one thing. He knew that is he would ever stop being the father the Julie needed and Julie deserved, that would be the one thing that Kate would never forgive him for. So, even when he would slip, when he would go into his seclusion, his daughter would always be the reason he would snap out of it, the reason he would wake up in the morning and not pull the trigger.

Julie walked up the stairs towards the family room, where she knew she would find Hurley and Claire. They were sitting across each other, each nursing a coffee mug, leaned over some paper work on the table between them. "Morning," she said, dropping her bag by the door and walking over to join them, reaching over for some toast that was on the breakfast tray. "Hello, sweetie," Claire greeted her lovingly. Her aunt Claire had not changed. Sure, the times, the world, had taken its toll on her physically. She had lines across her forehead and bags below her eyes, but she still had the same spirit, the loving, caring, optimistic glow that made her the survivor that she was. Together with Hurley, they made the perfect team to lead the world's largest relief program, the only one still standing and working after the all other international efforts had been halted. Julie sat on the couch next to Hurley, leaning in close and dropping her head on his shoulder. He quickly wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close. "Another long shift, huh?" he asked. "Ummm… 48 hours… Is that considered long?" Julie laughed.

"Oh, poor thing," Claire said, "Have you had breakfast?" she asked. Julie waved the piece of toast she had just picked up and raised an eyebrow. "I figured," Claire said disapprovingly, "you're skin and bone! If you don't take care of yourself, how are you supposed to take care of others?"

Julie laughed, "I'm ok, Aunt Claire, I'll go down in a bit and grab some _real_ breakfast," she said.

Julie sat back quietly for a while, listening as the two discussed a relief mission to South America. She listened for a while before her mind drifted back to Jacob, reminding her that it was not just another morning she could spend helping her aunt and uncle. She knew she had to talk to her father, but before she went to him, she knew it might be easier to ease into the topic with them. "Can I ask you guys a question?" she finally spoke up.

"Sure," Hurley said.

"The island you guys crashed on… you know, back when… what happened to it?" she asked nervously, watching the surprised reactions of both of them. The crash was a topic that no one had talked about in years.

"What… what do you mean what happened to it?" Hurley asked, as both he and Claire dropped what they were ding and turned their attention to Julie.

"I mean… is it still existing? Or…is it gone?" Julie asked, struggling with finding the proper question to get into the conversation.

"I… I don't think so, honey. It must have gone when the Pacific Ocean collapsed. That's where it was," Claire answered, shooting Hurley a quick look. They had all agreed a long time ago not to tell anyone, especially their children, the truth about what had happened. The story of the Oceanic Six had stuck because of the wide media coverage it got at the time, but no one knew about the second time they returned to the island, or the rest of the people who returned with them. It was all kept quiet and hushed over, thanks to Benjamin Linus's connections and talents. What the children knew was what their parents and family told them. Oceanic 815 had crashed on an uninhabited island in the Pacific and a group of them were rescued shortly after.

"You guys never went back there, or thought about going back?" Julie pried further, not missing the panicked looks that her uncle and aunt shared.

"Why would we go back… there was nothing to go back to," Hurley said.

"Honey, why are you suddenly so interested in the island? No one has thought about that in years…" Claire asked.

Julie shook her head, she knew she was not going to get anything out of them without admitting what had happened the previous evening at the hospital. "It's nothing. Forget about it. I'm just tired I guess," she tried to laugh it off, "is Dad up yet?" she asked standing up from the couch, motioning towards the bedrooms.

"Yeah, I think he is in his study," Hurley said, watching nervously as Julie excused herself and left the room.

"What was that all about?" Claire mumbled tensely after Julie had left. Hurley shrugged, that was definitely an unexpected turn of events.

* * *

_Jack put the camera down on the coffee table and went to mile with the guests. Being father of the birthday girl meant more chores than actual partying, but he didn't care. He was enjoying every minute of it, from waking up early to put up decorations, to driving across town to pick up the cake, to switching between taking pictures and making sure everyone had a drink in their hand. He looked around him. Their home was full of people, adults and children, friends and family. There were a few didn't really know, parents and children Kate had met at the park and a few of Aaron's school friends. And then there was the group of friends that have become family, and closer than family. He smiled and walked outside in search of the two people that mattered the most._

_Kate was standing with Claire and a few of the other mothers. She looked beautiful in a knee length, light blue summer dress, her hair pulled back in a loose braid. Julie was a few feet away, walking towards her mother awkwardly. She had only started walking a few weeks earlier, and only just pulling it off without the support of another person being close by. Jack stood on the back porch, watching his wife and daughter lovingly. Julie reached her mother and pulled at the bottom of her dress for attention. "hey, baby girl," Kate greeted the toddler joyfully, reaching down to scoop her up in her arms._

_"Tat!" Julie squealed in excitement, twisting her hand to show her mother the Hello Kitty sticker on her hand. "Wow! That's so pretty!" Kate said. Julie giggled at her mother's excitement and brought her hand up to her chocolate covered lips and kissed the pink sticker. She then reached over to her mother, "mama!" she said, smiling widely, revealing her adorable baby teeth. "You want me to kiss the kitty too?" Kate played along. Julie nodded eagerly. Kate laughed at her daughter's enthusiasm as she placed a quick kiss on her hand. "Now about we go get that cute face of yours clean?" Kate said, excusing herself from the group._

_Jack never broke his gaze from the scene before him, his heart swelling with joy and love for the two in front of him. He could not believe his luck, something he was thankful and grateful for every day of his life. Almost two years ago, he was a man who had nothing to live for, a man who did not think twice about taking his own life, a man whose only reason for being alive was that he was too cowardly to kill himself. He knew the life he was living was a gift; a miracle that could be taken from him if he took it for granted or squandered it in the least. He had made a pledge a long time ago, a pledge he renewed every day, to make his life worthwhile, to live his life for these two, his wife and daughter. They were his redemption._

_Kate walked up the steps from the yard towards the porch; Julie perched on her hip babbling nonsense. She was greeted by her grinning husband who did not waste time placing a quick kiss on her lips and ruffling their daughter's hair. "How are my girls?" he said. "Good. Dirty," Kate laughed, gesturing towards Julie. "Dadda! Dadda! Tat!" Julie said, showing her father the sticker this time. "Oh wow!" Jack said, reacting quickly to catch her as she leapt from her mother's grasp towards her father. "Woah!" he said catching her and pulling her towards him securely._

_"That's the third time she's done that today, leapt off of someone or something," Kate said with a gasp._

_" I wonder where she gets that from," Jack teased with a wink._

_Kate smacked him playfully on his arm, "you'll pay for that later, Shephard," she said._

_"I hope so," Jack whispered, bending down slightly to steal another kiss. Kate was too quick for him, pulling back teasingly. She shook her head; giggling as she said, "go get your little princess cleaned up."_

_"My pleasure," he said, starting to walk into the house, "soap time, Julie?" he said to the toddler in his arms who had become busy pressing her chubby little palms against his stubbled cheeks, giggling at the prickly sensation._

_"NO SOAP BUBBLES THIS TIME!" He heard Kate call after him with a sigh, immediately regretting giving he cleaning task to Jack._

* * *

Julie knocked gently on the door of her father's study before cracking it open. "Dad, are you busy?" she asked upon seeing him hunched over his desk writing on his notebook.

Jack's head shot up, he'd been alone for hours and did not expect any company at the moment. His face immediately lit up, a smile spreading across his face when he saw who it was. His daughter was a splitting image of her mother, taller than Kate, but with the same lean build, fair skin, freckled face and brown hair. Her hair was straighter though, less curls that Kate's and her eyes were a warmer hazel than her mother's wild green eyes. And while at times it physically pained him, seeing the image of his deceased wife in his young daughter, it still filled his heart with warmth. She was still his miracle, and with everything that was happening, with the apocalypse that he caused being at the door, she was his only reason to get up in the morning. Being her father, taking care of her and not letting her down was what kept him going. Failing at that would be the one thing Kate would never forgive him for.

"Julie, come in!" he said excitedly, getting off his desk chair and walking towards the couch, pushing off of the stacks of paperwork, "sit down." Jack took his reading glasses off and tossed them on his desk, placing them next to the lone picture frame that sat there. It held a picture from a time long gone. It was one of the three of them taken when Julie was six years old. She was sitting on her father's shoulder, laughing hysterically, her eyes shut and head falling back from laughter. Kate was standing next to Jack, also laughing, with one hand on Jack's chest and her forehead on his shoulder as she tried to calm herself down. Jack was also laughing. He looked so much different though, much younger, healthier, less tired. He had lost so much weight in recent years, his hair, which was once just sprinkled with a little bit of white, was all white, his hairline slightly receding and his once tall confident stature was shy, as he stood more hunched over than ever before.

"How was work?" he asked her as she joined him on the couch, handing him a cup of coffee. "It was good… How are you, dad?" Julie said.

"I'm fine… Ji Yeon sent some notes to look over for her, so… so… I've been… I've been working on those the last couple of days," Jack replied.

"Yeah? That sounds great… how is she?" Julie asked.

"Who?" Jack asked in confusion.

"Ji Yeon…" Julie said.

"Oh… ummm… fine, I guess…" Jack shrugged. If there was anyone more aloof and distant than jack, it was Ji Yeon. "Did you go the… the seminar?" he asked.

Julie shifted in her seat slightly, "No… No, I didn't. I had to work," she said, "Marcus went though," she added sheepishly, knowing her father was not Marcus's biggest fan. He had met him once or twice and each encounter felt like Jack was testing Marcus on everything, questioning his medical skills mainly, trying to use the excuse that Marcus was an inferior doctor to Julie as the reason why he was not a suitable boyfriend.

Jack scoffed, "well good, maybe he would learn something," Jack said.

"Daddy…" Julie said, "he'd a good guy, and a good doctor," she defended her boyfriend.

"Well, he might be, but not good enough for you. You deserve better," Jack argued.

"Dad, you are gonna say that about whoever guy I bring home, you know that, right?" Julie laughed it off.

"Well, maybe… Most probably… But there's probably going to be that one guy who might deserve you," Jack said sweetly, "you're my little girl… And not just that, you're an exceptional young woman, you're… special."

Julie's eyes popped at the word. _Special_. It was what Jacob had said about her.

"Dad, I need to talk to you about something," she said, sitting back up straight. She shifted in her seat nervously, avoiding eye contact with her father.

"Sure… what is it?" Jack asked, knotting his brow in confusion at his daughter's sudden change in attitude.

"A guy came into the ER last night… he was asking about you… " she said, biting her lip, gauging her father's reactions. Jack just looked at her, mouthing a silent 'Oh,' as she spoke. "He said he knew you from a very long time ago… from… from the _island_, he had some… interesting things to say," she said nervously. Jack placed his mug on the coffee table in front of him. "What… what did he… Who… who… was he?" Jack stumbled.

"He said his name is Jacob," Julie said, unconsciously holding her breath.

Jack stood up quickly, stepping away from the couch and staring at his daughter in shock and fear. "No… no… that can't be… he… Jacob's _dead_!"

"He… He said… he said he was sent back because his work was not done yet," Julie said, her voice cracking, her father's reaction scaring her.

"No! No!" Jack said, aggravated. He knew the island was not done with him, but he never expected Julie would be caught in the middle of his mess. "Whatever he said… you can't believe him. You shouldn't have talked to him," Jack shook his head. He had tried his whole life to keep his daughter safe from the island, guarded from his mistakes and the past that haunted them all.

"Dad," Julie sighed, feeling the tears gather at her eyes, "dad, please, what… It's true isn't it? The things he said? About the island being special? About your job?" Julie urged, losing the battle against the tears when she saw her father's tears being to fall.

"Julie, please," Jack begged, sitting back next to her, taking her hands in his, "_please_, just forget you ever met him, that you ever talked to him. _Please_."

"Dad, please, I need to know the _truth_!" she cried, sounding more like him than he ever hoped she would.

"No, Julie… this is not your burden to carry. Jacob had to right going to you. This is not your fight."

* * *

"_Come on, Aaron," Claire called after her 5 year old son, still a little too hyped up from the sugar he consumed, "time to go home."_

"_Already?" Aaron complained, "but we just for here!"_

_Claire laughed, that seemed to be his favorite phrase in the recent weeks, especially when they were visiting Jack and Kate, and Aaron's favorite person in the world, Julie. "Sweetie, we've been here for ten hours, I think that's enough for one day." She explained._

_Aaron pouted, used his biggest sad eyes, but he saw his mother wasn't budging from her decision, so he got up, but he still had one last card to play. "But I have to say good bye to Julie first, she will be sad if I don't," he coaxed._

"_I'm sorry, baby, Julie already went to bed," Claire said, "she came to say good night to everyone but you were outside with Clem."_

_Aaron looked up at his mother, lower lip slightly quivering. He loved his cousin, a lot, everyone saw that. He was very attached to her, not accepting to go a day without seeing her. It was a strange connection considering how hostile he had been when he first knew Kate was having a baby, and the few weeks after she was born. But then something had happened, something that had turned those feelings around and made Julie the center of Aaron's life. "Don't work, Aaron," Claire tried to comfort him, "we are going to be back first thing in the morning, Julie won't even notice you were gone."_

_Claire and Aaron said goodbye to Hurley, the only other guest left at the party, and made their way to their hosts. "Aww, you're leaving?" Kate asked. "Yeah, we have to. I need to get this guy cleaned up and in bed," Claire said with a smile, "but we had a great time. Thank you so much!" she added, hugging her sister in law tightly. "We'll see you tomorrow at mom's for brunch, right?" Jack asked. "Of course," Claire replied enthusiastically._

"_What about you, buddy? Excited about tomorrow? I know you love grandma's waffles," Jack asked Aaron, kneeling down to face the little boy. "Sure," Aaron replied, halfheartedly. "Hey, what's the matter, sweetie?" Kate asked. "Nothing," Aaron replied with a shrug._

"_He's just sad that he didn't get to say good bye to Julie," Claire explained, squeezing the little boy's hand._

"_You know what?" Jack said, shooting his wife a quick look for her approval, which she quickly understood, "if you be really quiet, and promise not to wake her up, you can go upstairs and say good night. But you have to be very quiet, can you do that?" Jack asked, smiling wide as he saw his nephew's face light up. "I can?" the little big asked excitedly, his eyes traveling from Jack to Kate to his mother. He got his reply when all three adults smiled back at him and nodded._

_Aaron walked up the stairs of the house he once called home, past the room that was his bedroom, and still was whenever he came to sleep over, which was quite often, and into his cousin's room. The room was dark except for the small night light by Julie's crib. The mobile over the crib was one he had chosen for her weeks after she was born. Even up on his tip toes, Aaron could not look over the side of the wood crib, instead, he peeked through the gaps in the side of it and watched Julie sleep for a moment. _

"_Hi Julie," he whispered, "I just wanted to say good night. I am leaving now because your birthday is over and I need to go to sleep too. But I will see you tomorrow at Grandma's and we'll play together there, I promise. I think Grandma will also make a cake for you. I think it's ok to have two birthday cakes," he said, scrunching his forehead for a moment, "but I think you will still only be one. I know because I'm five. I'm bigger. I'm your big cousin, you know," he started rambling like he often did with her, using any excuse to spend time with his favorite person in the world._

"_I'm also your big brother because your mommy and daddy were once my mommy and daddy too. But only for a little while until my mommy Claire came back. But it doesn't matter, you're my little sister," he went on, reaching through the gap in the crib to pull her blanket up. "And if you're mommy and daddy leave you like they left me once, you don't have to be scared because they will come back. but if you do get a little scared because you're only a baby, I will take care of you until they come back. This is what big brothers do. They don't leave their little sisters and they don't let them get scared."_

* * *

Julie said at the foot of her bed, tears on her cheeks drying and her phone twisting in her hands. Her encounter with her father had gone worse than she expected, but to be honest, she did not know what to expect exactly. Her father was not the easiest person to talk to to begin with, and with what she had to share with him… she wouldn't be surprised if he shut her out completely for God knows how long. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and flipped the phone in her hand. She stared at the screen, at the contact number she had clicked on. She knew that there was one person who would not disappoint her at this time, who would take the time to listen to her and actually give her a chance and maybe believe her. The problem was, she had not seen Aaron in over two years, ever since her left for Africa. They talked to him often, but it was mostly over the work communicator and about work. He was head of the relief mission there. And even though he did have a number where he could be reached at any time, it was primarily for emergencies. Julie breathed out heavily. _This was an emergency_ she thought to herself. If there was a chance they could put an end to all of this, she knew that Aaron would want to hear about it.

She pressed the call button and listened to the phone ring. She let it ring for a while and just before she almost hung up, she heard a voice on the other end. "Julie? Are you ok?" came Aaron's voice over the line, shocked that she would use the emergency phone when he had just spoke to his mother a few hours earlier and she had told him everything was ok.

"Aaron," Julie sighed in relief, "it's so good to hear your voice," she smiled into the phone.

* * *

Coming up...

**Chapter 3: On An Island Far Far Away**  
Will Aaron believe Julie? Will it be enough for him to make him leave his work in Africa? Will Jack, Claire and Hurley 'fess up? And how the hell did it all start? We flashback to 2012 to the first incident!


	3. Deleted Scene 1

Hi everyone!

This here is not chapter 3 (I am working on that to be posted soon) but rather a little interlude/snippet that doesn't belong to any specific chapter. I have a few of those (kind of like "webisodes" if this were a series LOL). There are little moments that I don't belong to specific chapters but that show "deleted" scenes if you wish that give some insight into plot/character. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and I promise not to take long with chapter 3.

This is set two days after Julie's first birthday party

* * *

_The paths have been crossed  
__The crumbs are gone and the way, and the way is lost  
__Melancholy phantoms eye our skins  
__Poison apples falling with the wind  
__Hear the sigh of the trees  
__Those who enter here never leave  
__And the rangers stream out of their cabins  
__They are the hunters  
__We are the rabbits  
__Maybe we don't want to be found  
__Maybe we don't want to be found_

**_A Fine Frenzy / Rangers_**

* * *

**July 13, 2009**

Kate opened her eyes slowly, sighing happily. Her head lay on the bare chest of her still sleeping husband. It was early, and even though she had hoped to sleep in that morning, raising a toddler had made her body adjust to waking up quite early. She smiled mischievously as she started laying feather light kisses on Jack's chest. It was merely seconds until she felt him stir below her and heard him humming blissfully.

"Morning," he whispered, his eyes closed, as he wrapped his arm around her, urging her to lie completely on top of him.

"Morning," she replied, stealing a quick kiss on his slightly parted lips.

"So, what do you want to do today?" he asked, running a thumb smoothly over her forehead.

"hmmm," she sighed, "this," she whispered, crawling so that her body was flat in top of his and capturing his lips with hers.

"mmm," he mumbled, regretfully pulling back, "what about Julie?" he asked.

"What about her? She's with your mom, and Margo has been dying to let us spend a whole day with her," Kate argued, teasingly kissing below his ear.

"A whole day with my mom? Does that mean you are no longer worried about how much she spoils her?" Jack giggled as he returned the favor and started running his fingers dangerously low along her back.

Kate huffed, " I've given up," she sighed, planting her palms on his chest as pushing up slightly to meet his eyes. "I've accepted the fact that everyone in my daughter's life is going to spoil her silly. No point fighting it anymore."

Jack's features suddenly changed, the playful shimmer in his eyes replaced by a more somber gaze. He sat back up slightly, keeping Kate on top of him and tightening his grip around her waist. Kate looked at him questioningly.

He smiled briefly, his fingers finding a curling strand of her hair, playing with it gently as he spoke, "Kate, I don't want to spoil our daughter. I don't want her to grow up to be one of those spoiled, princesses who don't work a day in their life, depending on people around them to do thins for them and expecting their every whim to be met." Jack's brow knotted and he emphasized his every word, hoping to convey what he meant to Kate. The fears of fatherhood had never completely left him, and spoiling his child or being too strict was always one of them. "I want her to grow up to be strong and independent, to know what se wants in life and go after it. I want her to know the value of working for what she wants and not being dependent on anyone," he said, his fingers never leaving Kate's hair, as if it were a lifeline that made this vulnerable moment possible for him. He closed his eyes as he continued, "but I also want to protect her. Protect her from all the darkness and evil in the world. The things we saw, the things we did, the evil we know is out there... I never want her to know they ever existed let alone experience them herself."

Jack swallowed against the lump in his throat, and Kate watched silently as she knew it wasn't often that Jack was willing to expose the demons that he had never truly let go of.

"I don't want to be too lenient, but I'm scared that if I'm too strict... She will grow to resent me, fear me... She might misunderstand... I could turn into my own father. I just want to keep her safe. But I want her to grow up to be strong, brave... Like you. I'm not always sure I know how to that without screwing things up." he opened his eyes, with shone with bushed tears.

"Jack..." Kate finally spoke, taking his free hand in hers, "you're a wonderful father. Don't you ever doubt that. Ever." she reassured him.

"No one knows exactly how to do these things. Being a parent, I mean. You learn as you go. But some people have it in them while others don't. And you do." she said, watching as a small smile slowly reappears on his face. "and we can protect and keep our child safe for as long as we can. But one day, she's going to grow up and see the world for what it truly is. We cannot keep her sheltered forever. We can only bring her up right, the best we can, teach her right from wrong, and hope that when the time comes she is smart, strong and brave enough to do the right thing and face it head on. And that she knows that we will always be there for her to help her through it. We cannot remove the evil from the world but we can make sure we remove it from our child and bring her up to be strong enough to keep evil out of her own life when we can no longer keep her in the nest."


	4. On an Island Far Far Away

Once again I apologize for taking so long to update. I can go on and on about all the things keeping me busy, but I am sure you'd rather not hear about that. So here's what you'd rather be reading, Chapter 3!

* * *

**Chapter 3  
****On an Island Far Far Away**

I didn't want to say it in this way  
I didn't want to see the day I'd say these words to you  
I didn't want have to explain  
Sometimes heroes have to lose  
It's killing me to see you cry  
Would it make it any better if I told you I did it all for you  
It was just another roll of the dice Just another star in the sky  
Tried to touch it but I couldn't fly

Everybody knows the promise of the river  
Everybody goes with the fire in their eyes  
Everybody knows you can lead a horse to water  
But there's nothing anybody can do  
Rivers run dry

Gonna have to go away  
I always told you that a man has got to face his own mistakes  
Sometimes you get a lucky break  
Sometimes your winning streak will stay  
Sometimes you gotta pay

River Runs Dry - Bon Jovi

* * *

_**September 22, 2012  
**__**8:15am**_

_"Good job in there, Doctor," Jack smiled, praising the young doctor who stood signing papers at the nurses' station._

_"Dr. Shephard!" she replied, ecstatic to receive a compliment from her chief of surgery, "thank you so much, sir."_

_"Erica, you can call me Jack now, you're one of us," he said, patting her on her shoulder, "the surgery you performed this morning officially makes you one of this hospital's best. In fact, I'm starting to get worried about that title on my door," he joked._

_The young surgeon blushed and lowered head, "I doubt that's true, sir, no one here can come close to how brilliant you are," she said._

_"Don't listen to all those hallway rumors, I'm not as great as they make me to be, and don't knock yourself down," he encouraged her, "in fact, if you're not too tired, I would love it if you could assist me on my surgery this afternoon."_

_Erica's eyes widened in excitement, Dr. Shephard never asked any of the younger surgeons to assist him, "yes, of course I can! It would be an honor sir!"_

_"Well than, get some rest and I'll see you at 2," he smiled at the thrilled doctor and made his way past her back to his office._

_"Dr. Shephard!" he heard one of the nurses call after him, "Dr. Shephard, your wife is on the phone for you. She says it's urgent."_

_Jack instinctually checked his pocket for his cell phone, wondering why she hadn't called him directly and realized he had left it in his office and had been wandering around without it for almost an hour. She must have called him a number of times before calling the hospital. He rushed back towards the nurses' station and grabbed the phone._

_"Kate, I'm so sor-" he started to apologize but was cut short by Kate's interruption._

_"Jack, Jack, are you watching the news?" Kate asked, her tones rushed._

_Jack shook his head in confusion, "No... no... why? What's going on? Are you and Julie ok?" he asked, starting to worry at his wife's urgency._

_"We're fine... just watch the news, Jack, please, and call me back," she said into the phone as she watched the TV, wide eyed and in shock._

_"We are yet to receive any official information with regards to the phenomena but our sources say that so far, Meteorologist are saying this is NOT a meteorological event and is more likely a geological one. There are no words yet on survivors or on number of victims. Initial reports from eye witnesses who were able to send images or information when it all started refer to mountains collapsing onto themselves, the earth shaking in what felt like earthquakes but lasted much longer than the longest recorded earthquakes in recent history. As we are showing you in these videos shot and uploaded by civilians before the whole city collapsed, this all seems to have started suddenly, entire landscapes crashing and tumbling, getting pulled... into the earth... Honestly this looks more like a science fiction movie than it does real life, but this is all real. We are receiving news now that the first satellite images of the area are now available and initial reactions are describing it as a ... a black hole. An entire portion of the Pacific Ocean, the area yet undetermined as it seems to be growing by the second, has been sucked into the Earth, gone, replaced by a gaping hole in the planet." The anchor's voice shook as he reported the news, unable to hide the fear painted on his features as he saw and showed the world the first images of the world collapsing bit by bit._

* * *

**December 6, 2030**

"I swear to God, Aaron, I'm not crazy," Julie breathed into the phone. She had just told Aaron everything that Jacob had told her, as he remained silent on the other end. For a moment she thought his silence meant he was considering how crazy she'd become since he'd been gone. He had always made fun of her often over the edge imagination.

"I know what you're thinking, Aaron," she urged, "I'm thinking the same thing. This must be insane... but when I talked to Dad, he basically confirmed it. As crazy as it sounds, it is true. Something they did caused this to happen."

Julie paused for a moment, hoping to give Aaron a moment to react. "What did he say? Your dad?" he finally asked.

"He got upset. It pissed him off that this Jacob guy came to me, that he told me what he told me. And he said that _this is not my fight_," she explained.

"Oh... okay," Aaron said.

"Aaron, please say something. I'm losing my head here," Julie urged, "I don't know what to do."

"Jules, don't do anything right now," Aaron said, "I'm gonna get on the first plane out of here."

"What? No you don't have to get back," Julie said.

"No, I do... listen, something happened last week, and I thought I could just ignore it, but now... after what you just said, I think I should get back," Aaron said, not explaining any further, "but don't tell anyone I'm coming back till I get there, mom and uncle Hurley would panic."

* * *

_"Guys, what are we going to do?" Hurley said, finally breaking the deafening silence that had clouded the room where they gathered._

_Upon hearing the news, they had all found themselves going to Jack and Kate's house, knowing that what was happening seemed eerily too familiar to be ignored. By noon they were all gathered there, sitting silently around the TV, watching and listening in anticipation. The event had stopped after a few hours, taking with it an area of approximately eight hundred square miles and the number of casualties was yet unannounced, while a few hundred survivors were starting to land on the closest islands, seeking refuge. Scientists of all fields were all gathering, trying to decipher the mystery of what had just happened, why it happened and whether it would happen again. Politicians had also called for emergency meetings all over the world. But in the Shephard household, where seven__friends sat silently, the answers were clearer than any where else in the world, but no one dared to say the truth they all knew, not yet._

_"What are we going to do about what, Hugo?" Sawyer spat out angrily, frustrated at the situation, not at his friend, but unable to hold back any longer._

_"What do you mean about what? Don't you see it, James? Doesn't it all look a little too familiar?" Hurley replied, his voice rising for the first time since they had known him._

_"Do I look blind? Of course I see!" Sawyer said._

_"Guys, guys," Kate spoke, her voice calm but loud enough to urge her friends to settle down, "please, let's try to figure this out calmly, and not take it out on each other. We all see it, Hurley, we do," she said turning to Jack, who had sat there quietly from the moment he walked into the house, not a half hour after she called him. He had not spoken a single word yet, but his stern, gloomy look said a lot. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently. He tried to squeeze it back, tried to look back at her with the assured look he knew she was hoping for, but he couldn't. His eyes remained glued on the TV, watching scenes he had thought he would never have to see again._

_"Hurley's right though, we should do something," Claire said, looking at Hurley first and then around the room to gauge the others' reaction._

_"Like what?" Frank asked._

_"Everyone around the world is stumped, no one has seen anything like this. We can help by letting the world know we have seen this before, that this has happened before," Claire suggested._

_"How would that help if we cannot even explain WHAT this is? We have no idea ourselves, we just know it happened before," Frank said._

_"Well, I know... but shouldn't we at least come clean about that?" Claire asked._

_"And how do you explain how we got out of it? We've been lying to the world for five years, hell, eight if you count the three years after you first crashed. How do you think the world will react if we suddenly remember that 'oh yeah, we kinda about this'," Miles said._

_"We didn't know _this_ was going to happen," Hurley said._

_"Either way, you don't think they would find a way to implicate us? The world will be looking for someone to blame, and we'd be throwing ourselves right in front of the firing squad! What else would you want us to expose while we are it? How about we tell them about the smoke monster? Or the thousand year old god-like guardian of the island? Or that Richard is like five hundred years old? How about we throw in that I talk to dead people and you see them to boost?" Miles argued in frustration, "we have nothing to gain from exposing any of this!"_

_Silence took over the room again, as each person felt drowning in their own thoughts and fears. "Miles is right," Jack finally said, staring at the ground in front of him, as all eyes turned to him. They watched him eagerly, tentatively, their once leader silently and slowly taking charge again, and even though he did not feel it, they looked at him with trust and dependence like they did all those years ago on a dark beach. "Telling the world the truth won't be helping anyone, not the world and not us," he said, "but we do owe it to the world to help. We can find a lot of ways to help. There's going to be a lot of research to be done, there are going to be a lot of injured people in need of help, a lot of refugees in need of homes... We can start there. We can start by helping financially. We can find a hundred ways to start helping..." he looked around the room briefly, watching as his friends either nodded or mumbled their agreement. Finally he looked to Kate, whose hand never left his, he smiled at her briefly, a sad, burdened smile, "We might not know why or how this is happening, but we cannot go on lying to ourselves. What happened on the island, what we let happen to the island... it was just the beginning. Deep down I think we knew, we all knew," he dropped his head again, "this is all my fault," he whispered that last part to himself, shutting his eyes tight at the thought and as he felt the weight of the world crash onto his shoulders._

* * *

**December 8, 2030**

"I'll be there by noon," Hurley said, "let m know if anything comes up, Jensen, I just have a few things I have to finish in the city first," he finished his phone call, setting his phone down with a sigh.

"Everything okay, Uncle Hurley?" came Julie's voice from the entrance to his office.

"Jules! hey!" he said, greeting his goddaughter, "yeah, everything's fine. Just got more things to do than there are hours in the day to do them, as per usual," he said with a chuckle, his sense of humor never diminishing.

"Was that Jensen down at the airstrip?" she asked coming to sit across the desk from him.

"Yeah... we've got a plane coming in from Tunisia this afternoon and I need to take down some paperwork for them," he said, shuffling through the files on his desk.

"Ummm... I can get those down for you, if you want... I mean if it's just dropping them off," she coaxed, "unless there's something you need to sign or do when you're down there."

"No, no, it's just dropping them off," he considered hr proposal, "you sure you don't have anything else to do today? No work?"

"Yea, I'm sure," she said with a smile, "plus, I took the day off."

"Since when do you take days off?" he teased.

"Since today," she laughed back, "come on, let me know how can be useful today."

Julie hopped off her bike, pulling her backpack securely and walked towards the hangar at the airstrip. Their organization had about ten planes still functioning regularly. She used to love to fly, especially when she'd be allowed to get on a plane with Frank, but she had not stepped on one since he disappearedfiveyears ago.

"Hey, Jensen," she said, getting the attention of the fleet manager. He was a young man, only a few years older than her, but Hurley trusted him and gave him complete control after Frank's disappearance.

"Dr. Shephard," he said, "what a surprise to see you here!"

"Seriously, Jensen? Dr. Shephard? That's my dad," she laughed, "you don't get to call me that considering the number of times I caught you making out with your girlfriend when you were supposed to be babysitting me."

Jensen laughed. She had been a manipulative child, blackmailing him often to let her stay up late, have ice cream for dinner or watch horror movies her parents would frown upon. "Fine, you got me there, again," he said, "so what brings you here?"

Julie reached into her backpack and handed him the brown envelope Hurley had given her, "running errands for the boss," she said.

"Oh, great thanks," he said, grabbing the envelope from her.

"So, has the plane from Tunisia landed yet?" she asked.

"No for another couple of hours," he replied, "are you sticking around or do you have to go back?" he asked.

"I'd love to stick around. Anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"Ummm... we've got some food palettes that need to be packed and a few planes that need to be cleaned," he proposed.

"I'll take the packing," she offered.

"Great, follow me," Jensen said, leading her towards the packaging bay.

"Welcome back, guys," Jensen said, as the crew stepped off the plane, "good to have you back with us," he welcomed them, the team of seven that had left three weeks earlier, glad to see them back safely. He was surprised when he saw a seventh member step off, "Aaron?"

"Jensen! Miss me, darlin'?" Aaron greeted one of his oldest friends.

"What're you doing here? I didn't get any info about you returning," Jensen asked, rechecking his flight information pack.

"Yeah, I know it was a spur of the moment sort of thing," Aaron said, "I missed your pretty face," he added teasingly, patting his friend on the shoulder, "Is Jules around?"

"So that's what she's doing here!" Jensen laughed, "come on," he said walking off towards where he had left her.

"Couldn't you have borrowed a car? Or a motorbike at least?" Aaron said staring at the bike she had locked at the entrance.

Julie shrugged, "you can have it, I'll just jog back," she said.

Aaron laughed, "it's a forty five minute run, Jules."

"So?" she smiled and started off, "I could use the run."

Less than an hour later, Aaron was knocking gently at his mother's office door.

"Come in," Claire said, looking up from her laptop.

"Hi Mom," Aaron spoke sheepishly. He had not seen her in two years, and even though they spoke on the phone almost everyday, it wasn't the same.

"Oh my God," Claire gasped, rushing quickly towards her son, hugging him tight against her. She was glad when her son volunteered to travel to Africa, proud of him even. But she was still a mother, and every morning she woke up anxious, not bale to wait before calling him to check on him, and every night she went to sleep with a prayer on her lips for him.

Aaron hugged her back, just as tight, sniffing back tears when he felt hers against his shoulders. Claire pulled back, holding her son's face in her hands, rubbing her thumbs against his cheeks, stepping back to check on him. He was taller than when she last saw him, still growing even at twenty six years old. He was also thinner, way too thin for her liking, and fitter. Her son had left a boy and returned a man. She wiped at her tears and held him to her again. She did not care why he had returned, not yet anyway. All that mattered to her that her prayers had been answered, that she could hold her son in her arms again, "I am so glad you're back," she said, tightening her grip on him.

* * *

_Kate turned off the lights in her daughter's room, leaving just the small night light, despite Julie insisting she doesn't need it anymore. She took one last look at the peacefully sleeping child, unaware of the catastrophe that had befallen the world, and smiled at the one constant source of joy in her life. _

_She made her way downstairs in search of Jack. He had not said much since they had decided what to do first and each of their friends had left. They would start by contacting the people they knew in various fields who would be involved at the moment. They would contact the World Relief organization, the United Nations Refugee council. They would offer financial assistance, medical assistance, and Frank even offered to get back into a cock pit to help whatever salvation and rescue missions that might head out._

_She found him standing in their backyard, holding his mug of black coffee and staring at the vast starlit sky. She walked up behind him, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder and waited for him to turn to meet her. The look on his face broke her heart, it was one she had not seen in years, one she had hoped never to see again. Broken, tired, burdened and guilty. He expected her to speak, but she surprised him when she said nothing. Instead she just grabbed the mug from his hands, placing it on the lawn table beside them. She turned back to him, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck, tightly, pulling her against her. She was glad to feel him wrap his arms around her in return. She had worried that he would shut her out completely. She ran her fingers through his hair and he buried his face in her hair and crushed her body against his. _

_The stood like that for what seemed like hours, just holding each other. She urged him to bury all the emotions that were crushing him into her, to allow her to carry his burden with him. She finally pulled back, taking his face between her hands, rubbing her thumbs against his cheeks, and locked her gaze with his._

"_It's not your fault, Jack. None of this is your fault," she said firmly. He shook his head, getting ready to argue. "No, Jack don't! Please don't do this to yourself, don't do this to us. THIS is not your fault. You could not have known this would happen if you let the island sink," she confirmed, "none of us knew."_

"_I should have… I should have know, Kate, it was my job to know," Jack said in defeat._

_Kate shook her head, "it wasn't your fault… it isn't your fault," she said, swallowing a sob, "it was mine. I made you come back. I was selfish. I was not ready to let you go. I was not ready to lose you and I made you choose me… choose us. I did this," she said, finally cracking._

_Jack wiped the stray that fell down her cheek, ignoring his own as they fell as freely, "you weren't selfish… it is not your fault. Don't ever think this could be your fault," Jack sighed, "that's the thing… I know that failing to save the island is causing this… it has brought upon the end of the world… but… when I think of what I would have missed if I hadn't left the island… you… Julie… you mean more than the world to me," he said, "and I know this is horrible, it's selfish… hundreds o thousands lost their lives today, and it's all my doing, but all I can think about is how lucky I am to have you."_

_Kate looked up at him, the tears streaming down his face matching hers, the pain, the guilt and anger they both felt filling the air around them, but in that moment they knew how lucky they were, that despite the guilt, the fault they were in, the honestly knew what it meant to be given the chance, no matter how much longer it would last. She kissed him then, not a soft, gentle kiss. It was hard, passionate and needy, stealing the air from each other and praying that in that kiss, redemption for their sins can be molded._

* * *

Aaron watched his uncle for a few moments, his back hunched over, shuffling between papers and maps and drawings, his brow furrowed like he remembered he did when he was focused on something. Despite all Jack Shephard had been through, the ups and downs, he remained his nephew's role model, the man he always aspired to emulate.

"Hi, Uncle Jack," he finally said, startling the other man, "sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he added quickly when Jack jumped back.

"Aaron," exclaimed Jack in shock. Had Claire or Hurley mentioned he was coming back? Jack thought to himself. "I didn't know you were coming back," he added, standing quickly, reaching a hand out to greet his nephew.

Aaron looked at his uncle's extended arm but ignored it, opting to hug him instead, again startling him with his actions. Jack froze for a moment before he hugged him back timidly. "I didn't tell anyone I was coming back," he said as they broke out of the hug.

"Oh... how was...?" Jack started, blanking for a moment as to where Aaron had been all these years.

"Africa... it's... surviving so far. I just came back from Tunisia," Aaron said.

Jack's eye widened, his lips forming in a silent 'Oh' upon hearing where Aaron had been.

"How have you been, Uncle Jack?" Aaron asked warmly.

Jack smiled, his eyes shining with sadness and appreciation for his nephew's concern. "I've been ok," he replied.

The two men sat in silence for a few moments before Aaron spoke again. "Julie called me two days ago," he said, "she told me what happened."

Jack shook his head, "she shouldn't have, I specifically told her-" Jack started.

"That's not why I... there's something else..." Aaron interrupted, "I found something in Tunisia, and I had thought to just shrug it off, but not now, not anymore."

Jack looked around the room, trying to find a reason to get out of the conversation. He was not sure what Aaron had found but he was sure he wouldn't like it, that it would treat into unwelcome territory. But the young man next to him was insistent and did not wait for Jack's consent to go on.

"We were trekking in the mountains, in a part of the country that looks like it had never been inhabited," Aaron started, "when we reached this area, a very rocky, steep part of the mountains, overlooking the see. I started raining heavily and the trek started getting dangerous. One of the locals with us suggested we take refuge in one the caves."

Jack shifted in his seat uneasily, his eyes darting around the room avoiding Aaron's. "They called the area _Magarat Yaqub, _The Cave of Jacob," Aaron said, pausing momentarily to watch his uncle's reaction. "The cave looked like it had been abandoned for years. I asked them what it was and they said that it was mostly myth, that no one knew what the place was exactly. There were stories of a white man who would appear there at times, stories reported over centuries, of him showing up for just a few days at a time, hiding in the cave, and every time he left they would find more carvings on the walls," Aaron said, "I saw those carvings... there were maps, mathematical formulas... and there were names... names and numbers," Aaron paused.

"Names?" Jack said, trying to feign surprise. He did not know about the cave in Tunisia, but he knew what Aaron was talking about.

"I think you know what I am talking about," Aaron said, his tone coming out more accusatory than he meant it to be, "Shephard, Littleton, Kwon, Ford, Hume..."

* * *

_Jack woke up early the next morning. He and Kate had stayed up late, talking, planning, but he could not sleep much, despite the pseudo peace he had eventually felt. He found his four year old daughter at the top of the stairs, still in her pajamas, her hair messed up and sleep still hinting in her eyes._

"_Good morning, princess," he said lovingly, taking her hand in his helping her down the stairs as she looked clumsy in the oversized pants she insisted on wearing every night to sleep. Dash from the Incredibles was her favorite character of all time._

"_Morning, daddy," she replied, beaming up at him with a wide smile and sleepy eyes, "do you want to have breakfast with me?"_

"_Sure, what're we having?" Jack replied as the reached the bottom of the stairs._

"_Hmmmm…" Julie thought, tapping her index finger against her chin, "Frosties?" she said._

"_Frosties…? How about I make you chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream?" he teased with a smile, one that widened when he saw the glimmer in Julie's eyes as she looked up at him in awe and excitement._

"_You'll make that for me? You don't have to go to work?" she asked, the child noticing the change of her father's pattern on a workday, despite her young age._

_Jack picked her up, kissing her on her cheek, "Of course I will," he whispered, "I will do anything for you."_

* * *

"We're gonna have to tell them," Jack blurted, walking into the family room where Claire and Hurley were gathered.

"Jack!" Claire exclaimed in shock, seeing her brother leave his room on his own accord for the first time in weeks.

"Tell who what?" Hurley asked.

"A-Aaron and Julie," Jack stuttered.

"Aaron's here?" Hurley asked again, growing more and more confused.

"He came back this afternoon," Claire explained quickly before turning back to Jack, "tell them what?"

"Everything... the truth..." Jack said as he started pacing the room, "they need to know, we cannot keep hiding this from them."

"What? Why? Why now?" Hurley asked.

"Something's happened," Jack said, finally stopping his pacing and looking at them directly, with purpose, "Jacob's come to them."

Jack explained to Hurley and Claire what had been happening, first with Aaron and then with Julie.

"Those names in the cave... are they supposed to be us?" Claire asked. "Why did Jacob appear to Julie and not ... and not me?" Hurley quickly added.

"I'm not sure if it's us... the original candidates, or if Jacob is trying to recruit new people," Jack answered with a shrug, "and I don't know Hugo... maybe he thinks we failed and he needs someone else to replace us?"

"No," Hurley said, standing up quickly, "Jacob is no longer the protector of the island, Jack, _you_ are," he insisted. "You said he told Julie that it's still you, even if you don't believe it," he said, watching Jack shake his head in disagreement.

"The island is GONE, Hugo," Jack said angrily, "it's gone. I failed to protect it. And I won't let him use my daughter for this."

Claire placed a gentle hand on top of Jack's, hoping to calm him, "why don't we get the kids in here first and talk to them, we have a lot of explaining to do," she spoke gently, "I'll get Aaron, why don't you Jack go call Julie?"

"Julie?" Jack said, knocking on his daughter's bedroom door.

"Dad?" she said, looking up from the book she had been reading. She had not spoken to him since she told him about her encounter with Jacob, and even though she knew Aaron had spoken to him, she hadn't heard anything yet.

"Ummm, do you have minute?" he asked.

"Sure," Julie replied, putting her book down and sitting up on her bed.

"Can you come to the family room? There's something we need to talk to you about," he said.

Julie walked behind her father as he led the way towards the family room, walking quietly lost in thought, when she almost bumped into him as he stopped abruptly halfway.

"Dad? You ok?" she asked.

He turned towards her swiftly, smiling shortly before his usual intensity returned to his features, "I love you, you know that right?" he asked suddenly.

Julie nodded, "I love you too," she said in confusion.

"I know I don't say it often and... and I'm not exactly the father you'd hoped to have, but I really do love you... and everything... everything I have done in my life, I have done to protect you... and I know I've even failed at that, but I never meant for any of this to happen," he said, dropping his head against his chest in sorrow.

Julie hugged him, fighting back against her emotions that threatened to take over, "I know, I love you too, Dad. You've never failed me. You've been the greatest father I could have ever dared to wish for."

They made it quietly to the family room, where Hurley, Claire and Aaron were already waiting.

"I think you'd better sit down for this," Jack started.

They talked for over two hours, the adults taking turns telling the story. They started at the beginning, as far at the beginning as they could. They told them about Jacob and the Smoke Monster, about Richard and the Black Rock, about the Dharma Initiative and the Hanso Foundation. They told them about Ben and the Others, about Danielle, about Desmond and finally about Oceanic 815, their return to the island and finally about Jack taking over for Jacob, killing the Smoke Monster and leaving the island.

"Wow," they both said when the three had finished, taking a deep breath to allow the information they had just been bombarded with to settle.

Hurley chuckled at their reaction, "yeah, exactly," he said.

"So what do we do now?" Julie said.

"What? What do you mean _what do we do now_?" Jack asked, worried about what his daughter might be thinking about.

"Well, Jacob said we could fix this, that we need to bring everyone together to make this right," Julie explained.

"No, NO," Jack negated, shaking his head passionately, "I told you, this is not your battle to fight. I didn't tell you this to encourage to do what ... what that man planted in your head," Jack argued.

"But Dad!" Julie argued back before being interrupted by Aaron. "Question," he said, finally breaking his silence, "before we go into whether we are going to hop on the plane and play Avengers or not, what did he mean when he told Jules that _the island gave us powers?_ Last I checked, I couldn't leap off building nor did I have heat vision that melts steel."

He looked around the room, watching as Hurley and Claire shrugged but Jack remained stoic. "Uncle Jack, if you say you are his replacement, then you should know what he knows, right?" he asked.

Jack waited a moment before he nodded. "What does it mean? Why... How are special?" Aaron asked.

"You're... It's not like... You can't leap off buildings or anything... they're not that kind of power..." Jack tried to explain, revealing something he had know for so long, but the one thing he had always kept a secret, not telling even Kate about it, "the island... it magnifies your most prominent characteristic, compassion or kindness or humor or bravery, it brings it out of you in a way that ... it borders on the supernatural. And if you know about it, if you nurture it... and if you find or rediscover your link to the island... then you can use it and control it," Jack said, "you can do great things with it."

They all sat back, in silence, in shock, as they tried to understand what Jack had just admitted.

"Will we be able to save the world with it?" Julie finally asked.

* * *

_**September 24, 2012  
**__**3:16am**_

"_Kate? Kate?" Jack whispered, sitting up in bed quickly, "Kate, wake up."_

_Kate woke up with a startle, trying to adjust to the darkness of the night, "What? What is it?"_

"_Shhhh…." Jack whispered, "do you hear that?"_

"_Hear what?" Kate asked in confusion._

"_Listen," Jack said. "that," he added after a soft, low moaning sound was heard from downstairs._

"_Is that Julie?" Kate asked, getting out of bed right after Jack, and they made their way out of the room. "I don't think so," Jack said._

_They peeked into their daughter's room and were relieved to find her in bed, but the moaning sounds did not stop. "What IS that?" Kate asked again. Jack looked at her and shrugged, motioning for her to follow him downstairs to investigate._

"_Daddy? Mommy?" they heard Julie say just before they headed towards the stairs._

_They looked at each other quickly before stepping back into her room. "Are you okay, sweetie?" Kate asked, rushing quickly towards her daughter._

"_Mommy, you need to get Vincent," Julie said sleepily._

"_Get who, Julie?" Jack asked, walking in quickly to sit at the edge of her bed._

"_Vincent. The doggie. You need to get him." Julie insisted._

_Jack and Kate shared a shocked look. "Honey? Were you having a dream? We don't have a dog," Kate said soothingly, trying to maintain her own composure._

"_I know mommy. I know we don't have a dog. But Vincent is looking for us," Julie insisted again, growing slightly impatient at why her parents weren't acting on her request._

"_Julie, who told you about Vincent?" Jack asked._

"_No one told me, but please, daddy, go get him!" Julie urged, her lower lip quivering._

"_Okay, okay, I will sweetie. Tell me where he is," Jack said softly, trying to calm his agitated daughter, trying to convince himself she was just having a dream, an unsettling dream, for him more than for her._

"_He is at the door," she said, lowering her head onto her mother's chest as Kate wrapped her arms around her daughter._

_Jack and Kate shared another look before getting up and going downstairs, Julie still cocooned in her mother's embrace. The moans started getting louder when they arrived downstairs, and they quickly realized it was not just moans, there were subtle scratches against the door as well. Jack shot Kate another anxious look, and she nodded assuredly in return, giving him the confidence and trust to go ahead. He motioned for her and Julie to stay back as he took the last few steps towards the door._

_Jack swallowed as he approached the door, the sounds now apparent as ones coming from a dog. Jack opened the door slowly, and even though he had been expecting it, he gasped when he saw the golden Labrador at his door. "Vincent?" Jack said just before the dog jumped up and down, greeting Jack like an old friend. He patted the dog's head, confused as to how and why the dog found his way to them or how he had survived off the island. He knew it wasn't a trick. It was definitely Vincent._

"_Is it really him?" Kate asked, setting Julie down and walking towards Jack and Vincent._

"_Yeah, it is," Jack confirmed, "What are you doing here boy?" Jack asked, kneeling down towards him._

"_He's here with me," came a voice from the other side of the porch, startling both Jack and Kate. They stepped back quickly, Jack immediately shielding Kate with his body and instinctively checking on Julie in the house. The dark figure walked slowly across the porch, making his way towards the light coming from the inside of the house._

"_Hello Jack," he said._

_Jack blinked as he saw the face of a man he thought had been long gone, gasping as he whispered, "Desmond?"_

* * *

Coming up...

**Chapter 4: Our Savior's Brother**  
What will Aaron and Julie do now that they know the truth? Will they try to save the world? And what will Jack, Hurley and Claire say and do about that? Will they try to save the world? Will they try to stop them? And we flashback to 2008, early 2008, when a very young Aaron was stuck between accepting his new mother, and accepting a new member to his family.


	5. Our Savior's Brother

Relatively quick update, no? LOL! Anyway, this chapter picks up right where the previous ended interns of the present timeline and flashes back to 2008, seven months after they left the island. It's an Aaron centric chapter. I hope you enjoy it! I'm kinda in love with my Aaron, for the record, haha!

Anyway, here it is. Please drop me a review to let me know what you think.

* * *

**Chapter 4  
****Our Savior's Brother**

declare this an emergency  
come on and spread a sense of urgency  
and pull us through  
and pull us through  
and this is the end  
this is the end of the world  
it's time we saw a miracle

come on it's time for something biblical  
to pull us through  
and pull us through  
and this is the end  
this is the end of the world

proclaim eternal victory  
come on and change the course of history  
and pull us through  
and pull us through

and this is the end  
this is the end of the world

Apocalypse Please - Muse

* * *

"You can do great things with it," Jack said.

They all sat back, in silence, in shock, as they tried to understand what Jack had just admitted.

"Will we be able to save the world with it?" Julie finally asked.

"What?" Jack said, his whole body jerking at what he knew was brewing in his daughter's mind.

"What're we going to do now?" Julie asked, aware of her father's anger at her at the moment.

"No, I didn't not tell you this for you to go gallivanting off to God knows where thinking you can fix this?" Jack replied.

"Then why did you tell us?" Julie asked, knowing that she was walking a fine line.

"I told you, Julie, because you deserved to know the truth, because I have been lying to you for too long," Jack explained.

"No. You told me because you had no choice. Because Jacob came to me and exposed the truth," Julie argued back.

Jack dropped his head. She had a point. If she hadn't pushed him in the corner with what Jacob told her and if Aaron hadn't confronted him about the cave in Tunisia he probably would not have admitted any of it to them. But if he was going to be honest, there was a sense of relief, a freedom that came with telling them. Jack stood up, running his hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck.

"You're not a little girl anymore, Julie, I can't tell you what to do or what not to do... He'll, I couldn't even tell you that when you were a little girl," he sighed with a chuckle, "but this thing... It is bigger than me, it is bigger than you, it is bigger than any of us. The island... You have no idea what it is capable of... It's not helping at a soup kitchen or dropping food palates over Tunisia. Please just..." Jack paused for a moment, this was his daughter, this was Kate's daughter, if he wanted to be sure she would do something all he had to do was tell her she wasn't allowed to do it, "please, think about what you're talking about here. I just want you to be safe."

Julie prepared herself to react, to say something in return, but Jack was quick to exit the room, not bothering to wait for her reply or anyone else's. Julie shot Aaron a quick look. For some reason she had expected him to jump in, to say something, to have her back in this. Surely, he must have the same thing in mind, she thought to herself. They had just been gifted what the entire world was looking for. A way to put an end to the incidents, to save the world, why wasn't he jumping onto this like she thought he would?

* * *

_**June 23, 2008**_

_"Aaron, sweetie, come eat your dinner," Kate called from the kitchen._

_It had been almost eight months since they returned from the island. It was a slow process at first, but the pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place. Claire had finally reached a place where she was comfortable in her role as a mother to Aaron, Jack had finally recovered from his injuries and was back to work and the very pregnant Kate was taking every day at a time waiting to give birth. Aaron had had a very hard time. He was a confused little boy, and even though he seemed to be the strongest in the ordeal when they first returned, easing into the switch between calling Kate "mommy" to calling her Aunt Kate faster than anyone had expected, he seemed to have changed more in the past couple of weeks since school had ended and he was spending more time at home. Claire and Aaron continued to live with Jack and Kate during that period. They had all agreed it would be easier to Aaron than to quickly removing him from the familiar environment with all the other changes, and to help Claire slowly ease back into the real world and get back ton her feet._

_"Aaron, didn't you hear Aunt Kate? Dinner's ready," Claire asked her son when he failed to reply to Kate, as he continued to play in the living room._

_"What's for dinner?" he asked, not bothering to look up at her._

_"Mac and Cheese," Claire smiled, "your favorite."_

_"Ukh, I don't want Mac and Cheese," he said, "I want chicken nuggets."_

_"But we had chicken nuggets last night," Claire said, preparing herself for another tantrum, "and Mac and Cheese is your favorite. Kate made it just for you, just the y you like it."_

"_Who told you it's my favorite? Mac and Cheese is stupid!" Aaron cried out, getting up on his feet with his Buzz Lightyear grasped tightly in his hand, just as Kate walked into the room. She shot Claire a questioning look. "Mac and Cheese is stupid! And you are stupid! And Kate is stupid!" he yelled, tossing his toy away, unaware of Kate's presence in its path. Kate hissed in pain as the toy hit her straight in the stomach._

_Clair's eyes bulged in fear, rising quickly onto her feet to Kate's side. "Go to your room, right now!" she scolded her son, "RIGHT NOW!" Aaron took a step back in fear, he had not intended to hurt Kate. His lower lip quivered and he ran quickly up to his room. _

"_Oh my God, Kate, are you ok?" she asked as he helped the other woman sit down._

"_I'm fine, I'm fine," Kate insisted, "it didn't hurt."_

"_Are you sure? Nothing hurts? The baby's ok?" Claire asked again in panic._

"_Yes, I'm sure," Kate said with a smile, "you survived a. Plane crash when you were eight months pregnant. I think I can handle a Buzz thrown by a four year old," Kate joked to emphasize that she was indeed fine._

"_I'm so sorry," Claire said, finally calming down, "I have no idea what's gotten into him lately." Claire apologized for her son's behavior._

"_It's fine, Claire, it really is," Kate reassured her, "his only four, and he has been trough so much this past year, it's perfectly normal for him to act out at times."_

"What the hell, Aaron?" Julie fumed after him as he left the room without saying a word.

Aaron turned around to face her, standing more than half a foot taller, his arms crossed over his chest.

Julie watched him as he stood silently for a moment, shaking her head and raising her eyebrows at him when he said and did nothing. "What? That's it? You're just gonna stand there?" she asked.

"What do you want me to say, Jules?" he finally said.

"Well, I don't know the exact words, Aaron, but I expected you to have my back in there," she said, "I thought you said you always have my back."

"I do have your back," he said plainly, "always."

"So that's what you call not supporting me in there? Having my back?" she asked angrily.

"I was having your back in there, Jules," he said, "I was stopping you from getting into a fight with your father by not jumping on this crazy idea that you have cooking in your head."

"Crazy idea... Crazy idea?" Julie huffed, shaking her head, looking more like her father than she would like to admit, "Aaron we have just been told we carry the answer to the world's problems. We can end this. And you say it's crazy?"

"Jules? Are you listening to what you're saying here?" Aaron spoke calmly, "what they said in there... I'm not saying they were lying to us... But I'm not exactly buying that this island gave us powers that can save the world. That's nonsense."

Julie looked down, staring at her feet for a moment, "we might not be superheroes, but we are the only chance this dying world has. We have to try at least," She whispered.

"Try what?" Aaron asked, "We don't even know what it is we are supposed to do or how we go about doing it. What do you propose we do?"

"I don't know… something!" Julie said.

"Jules…" Aaron said softly, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, "what you're talking about isn't rescuing the world… it is a suicide mission."

* * *

"_Aaron? You still up, buddy?" Jack asked, knocking gently on the young child's bedroom door. He heard the little boy sniff before mumbling a "yes."_

_Jack walked in with a tray and a plate of Mac and Cheese. "I'm grounded," Aaron stated, "I have to go to sleep without dinner."_

"_I know," Jack said, sitting next to Aaron on his bed, "I heard what happened earlier."_

_Aaron lowered his gaze, staring at the floor in front of him. "I heard you're going to the zoo tomorrow, are you excited for that?" Jack asked._

"_Is Aunt Kate ok?" Aaron asked, ignoring Jack's attempt at small talk._

_Jack nodded, "yeah, she's fine," he said, watching the young boy's brow scrunch. _

"_And the baby?" Aaron added. _

"_The baby is also fine," Jack said, smiling sweetly at the little boy's concern._

_Aaron nodded. "I didn't mean to hit Aunt Kate… I'm sorry," he said sadly._

"_I know you didn't, buddy" Jack said, resting a calming hand on his small shoulders._

"_I don't think Aunt Kate is stupid," Aaron admitted, "I don't hate her," he looked up, for the first time meeting Jack's gaze, "and I don't hate the new baby," he finished._

"_I know you don't, Aaron," Jack said gently, "and I understand if you feel we are focusing a lot now on getting things ready for the baby and ignoring you. I am sorry if we have been doing that."_

_Aaron shook his head and wiped away a tear. "But you know what, sport? I'm going to need your help when the baby comes because I won't be able to around all the time and you're going to be the man the man of the house and make sure everyone's doing well, ok?" Jack said with an encouraging smile, "you're going to be the best cousin, you know that?"_

_Aaron nodded, smiling proudly at the responsibility that his uncle had just bestowed upon. Jack ruffled the young boy's hair and laughed slightly._

"_Uncle Jack," Aaron asked, "I also don't think Mac and Cheese is stupid," he admitted innocently._

_Jack hugged him to his side and laughed, "Come on, let's have dinner down stairs."_

* * *

"She's just like her," Aaron said.

He stood at the door of Jack's office, watching his uncle as he stared longingly at a picture of Kate and Julie from so many years ago.

Jack looked up, a sad smile on his lips, and nodded. Aaron walked over and sat across the desk from Jack. "Julie' just like aunt Kate, and I know that's what frightens you the most," he said matter-of-factly.

"She is… and it is," Jack agreed, the smile on his face growing wider despite himself, "she's going to try to do something about this, isn't she?" he asked, knowing that if Julie was going to confide in anyone it would be Aaron.

Aaron nodded, "yes… yes she is," he said.

Jack looked up at him, worriedly, "I have to stop her," he said.

"No you don't…" Aaron argued, "you trying to stop her will only make her more insistent on doing something… and the more you fight her the more dangerous her reaction will be."

Jack chuckled, "when did you become so smart?" Jack asked.

"I think around the time you got me to memorize the times table when I was only six," Aaron laughed.

"I won't let anything happen to her, you that uncle Jack, right?" Aaron asked seriously.

"I know," Jack replied.

"Whatever she does, I'm going to go with her… I'll keep her safe…" he said, dropping his head slightly, "it's what aunt Kate would want me to do," he said, his voice cracking at the memory of his late aunt.

They sat silently for a moment, both lost in memories of a woman that meant the world to both of them.

"But I don't know how to do it," Aaron finally admitted.

"What do you…" Jack started.

"You talked about _powers_ and being _special_ and the _island_ giving us… whatever… and I'm sorry, but I just don't… I'm not really on board with that yet," Aaron said, "but Julie does, and she's gonna go try save the world in some supernatural way and I am not sure I know how to handle that."

Jack nodded, "I know what I said earlier is kinda out there," he said with a giggle, "and I can't make you believe, it's something that has to be _you_."

"You're weighing a lot of this on _faith_, I'm not big on that, to be honest," Aaron shrugged.

"I don't believe in destiny," Jack whispered, a half smile on his face as he recalled a dark night in the jungle so many years ago.

"What?" Aaron asked.

Jack just smiled and got off his seat. He walked towards Aaron and sat on the coffee table next to him. He took Aaron's hand in his and spoke quietly, "do you remember when we went to Disneyland for your tenth birthday?" he asked.

Aaron nodded, slightly shocked and quite intrigued at where Jack was going with that. "Remember when we were standing in line for Space Mountain?" Jack added.

Aaron nodded again. "Close you eyes," Jack said as he did the same, "remember how excited you were but still nervous you weren't tall enough to get on the ride?"

Just as Jack finished that question, Aaron felt himself getting pulled out of his uncle's office and revisiting that moment. It wasn't a memory anymore. He gasped as he felt he was reliving the moment, physically and mentally. He took a deep breath and looked around him. People, young and old, children laughing and running around the now gone park that once was in California. He heard the voices, the music, the laughter, he could smell all the familiar scents of childhood. He looked to his left and saw Jack, the older Jack he was just sitting in a room with in New York. Jack nodded and pointed ahead. Aaron's eyes widened in shock when he saw his ten year old self, standing in line with his uncle, jumping with excitement and talking a mile a minute. He turned back to Jack, the older Jack, and looked at him in shock. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Jack nodded in understanding.

Just as it all had started, it suddenly ended when Jack pulled his hand out of Aaron's. Aaron stared at his uncle, wide-eyed and breathing heavily. "What just happened?" he asked after a moment.

"We visited that memory," Jack admitted.

"How did you do that?" Aaron asked, his chest still heaving.

"I didn't," Jack said, "you did."

"I…" Aaron said in disbelief, rubbing his hand over his hair, "I am pretty sure I had _nothing_ to do with that!"

"It _was_ you," Jack said. He spoke calmly, trying to scare the young man, aware of the weight of the shock this piece of information. Aaron shook his head, in disbelief and anger and pushed off the chair to leave.

"Aaron… wait," Jack said quickly, "I know this is hard to… to comprehend, to wrap your mind around… but this… this is your _gift_," he said.

Aaron stood there for a moment, his back to his uncle and thinking quietly. "Time travel?" he finally asked.

"Not exactly," Jack said, "we weren't _physically_ there, we just revisited a shared memory… this part of your gift," Jack explained, but was cut off before he could finish.

"_Part_ of my gift?" Aaron scoffed.

"It's just the tip of what you can do," Jack smiled.

Aaron shook his head, "great," he said sarcastically, "what else can I do?"

"I… I am not sure," Jack lied.

Aaron nodded, "now what?" he asked.

"It's your choice, Aaron, I cannot force you to do anything," Jack said, placing a hand on his nephew's shoulder, "this has to be your decision… but like you said, Julie won't listen to me, but she will listen to you. I just want her to be safe… I just want you both to be safe. You guys, your mom, Hugo… you're all I've got now."

**Two Hours Later**

"Jules?" Aaron said, searching for his cousin.

"In here," he heard her call from her room. He walked in, finding her with a backpack on her bed and going through her closet.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"Packing," she said, not bothering to look at him.

"I can see that," he laughed slightly, "do we even have a plan?"

"We?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and finally looking at him.

"You didn't think I was gonna let you go do some crazy shit alone, were you?" he asked.

"Does that mean you believe now?" she asked excitedly.

"I'm not sure," he replied, "but I'm not gonna let you have all the fun alone."

Julie smiled and rolled her eyes at him. "So, we need a plan," she finally admitted.

"I have an idea," he said, "we need Ji Yeon. But first, we're gonna need to call Clementine."

* * *

_**July 1, 2008**_

"_Knock, knock," Claire said, peeking through the cracked door of Jack's new office._

"_Claire!" Jack exclaimed, looking up upon hearing her voice._

"_Are you busy?" she asked promptly, still standing at the door._

"_No, not really," Jack admitted, "why?"_

"_Then come on, big brother, I'm buying you lunch," she said excitedly._

_They enjoyed a nice lunch, in a cozy restaurant a few blocks from St. Sebastian, and when the bill came, Claire was quick to snatch away from Jack, "I said I'm buying," Claire said with a smirk on her lips._

"_Claire, you don't have to," Jack said._

"_I know I don't, but I want to," she said, "just like you don't have to let me and my little menace live with you and not pay rent," she teased, her eyes soft as she tried to lace the teasing with genuine gratitude._

"_I know I don't, but I want to," Jack smiled._

"_There's something else I wanted to talk to you about," she finally admitted._

"_So this wasn't just a chance to enjoy my wonderful company then, huh? There's ulterior motive to buying me lunch? I'm hurt," Jack joked._

_Claire laughed, nodding mischievously, before explaining herself. "I've been looking at apartments to rent," she finally admitted._

_Jack cocked his head, "Why? Claire, you don't have to do that… We want you guys to stay," he said._

"_I know, and I really appreciate that… I don't know how I can ever repay you for the past months," she said, "but Kate's going to be giving birth soon. The house is going to be too crowded, and you're going to want us out of he way, especially with Aaron's temperament lately… I'm not sure how he will be when the baby actually arrives."_

"_No," Jack argued, "Aaron won't be a problem," he said, "and the house won't be crowded. You'll never be considered… a crowd."_

"_My mom's finally finished with everything in Sydney, I mean, she sold the house, she's ending all her prior commitments there, and she's moving here soon. We talked about getting a place together. She will help me with Aaron. And I'll be starting school in fall… it's time we finally… left the nest," she explained._

_Jack nodded. He understood his sister's need to finally be independent, to stand on her own two feet after the ordeals of the past three years. And he was proud of her. She had come a long way since the returned from the island._

"_Okay," he finally said, "I'll tell you what. You start searching for a place, but I need to stay with us a little longer, just till after Kate gives birth. I would feel a whole lot better if she wasn't at home the whole day," he said._

_Claire smiled, reaching a hand out for him to shake, "deal," she said._

* * *

"You're just going to let them go?!" Claire freaked out at Jack.

"I'm not letting them do anything, Claire. They're adults, they can do whatever they want," Jack said plainly.

Claire scoffed, "since when?" she asked sarcastically, "you treat everyone around you like a child, and now suddenly our children are old enough to take their own decisions? Now when their decision is to go save the world with some imaginary super power that goddamn place bestowed upon them?"

"They'll be perfectly fine, Claire," Jack spoke tiredly. Claire wasn't over-reacting, he thought to himself, she was just a mother reacting normally to the news of her son getting ready to leave on another suicide mission.

"Oh, okay, because the island will keep them safe, right?" Claire said as she paced the width of the room.

"No, not exactly," Jack said.

"Then please, tell me how you can be so sure that they will be fine," she said.

"Because without us, they won't be able to do much," Jack explained vaguely.

"What?" Hurley asked, finally chiming in to the conversation.

"Their powers work to a certain extent individually, and the more of our children they manage to gather, the stronger the powers will be, but they won't work 100% unless _we_ are with them," Jack clarified, "we are their link to the island, and they need that link for their powers to go into action completely."

"Then… then we're sending them less armed than they think they are?" Claire asked, her tone laced in fear.

"In a way, but they're also safer like this," Jack said, "as long as they're powers aren't working completely they won't be able to do anything dangerous, as long as they don't everyone they need to find, they won't be able to do anything… the island won't _call for them_," Jack said, rolling his eyes at his own words. He had thought he'd shed the role of the island protector a long time ago but here he was again using words and phrases he barely believed anymore.

"Jack…" Claire said, her voice pleading, "you're not sure. You cannot be sure of any of this… that… that they will be ok," she said.

Jack stood up, walking towards her and taking both her hands in his, "I am, Claire. You have to believe me. After everything that's happened, after what happened to Kate… You think I would send Julie out there without being 100% sure she will be ok?" Jack whispered, "I lost Kate, I am not going to lose her too."

Claire nodded, wiping at a stray tear that rolled down her cheek. "Okay," she said softly.

Hurley watched from the other corner of the room while the other two debated and argued about the safety of their children. He respected that. He understood Jack's pain, his guilt, the reason why he wouldn't want either Julie or Aaron to get hurt. But he could not believe they could sit back and do nothing, especially now, when they just found out they can do more to save the world than send medical aid and food palates to suffering countries. For years he had thought he was doing all he could do, giving everything he had to help a dying world, but he would be damned if he knew he had the power to end he suffering and just sit back because Jack didn't want other people to fight his battles.

* * *

_**July 8, 2008**_

_Jack heart beamed with joy and pride, his eyes welling with happy tears as he watched the nurse of the maternity ward place the small infant into the crib of the maternity ward. He stared wide-eyed at the nametag and sighed, unabashedly allowing his tears to flow along his cheeks._

_Julie Christine Shephard_

_He watched his daughter sleep for a few minutes, barely aware of all the nurses and doctors who passed by offering their congratulations. He finally decided it was time to rejoin Kate, who had the more tiring ordeal of the day, in her room. Kate was sitting in her bed. She was tired, exhausted, but too excited to actually sleep. Claire and Aaron had just left and she knew Jack would be back any minute. She beamed at him when he walked. He smiled back at her. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever had the privilege to lay his eyes on. He walked towards her quickly, leaning in to plant a quick kiss on her lips. She surprised him when she took a hold of his shirt collar and pulled him for a deeper, more passionate kiss than he'd anticipated. They rested their foreheads against each other when they'd finally pulled out of the kiss. Both with their eyes closed, breathing heavily, they both cried happily._

"_How is she?" Kate finally asked._

"_She is perfect," Jack whispered, stepping back to take the seat by her bed, and taking her hand in his._

_Kate smiled, "she is, isn't she?" she said._

"_She looks just like you," he replied._

"_She's as stubborn as you are, though," Kate teased, "and I went through the eighteen hours of labor to prove it."_

_Jack just smiled, brining her hand to his lips, kissing each knuckle softly. "Are you ok? Do you need to go to sleep?" he asked sweetly._

"_I'm fine… can't sleep just yet," she replied, "I just want to sit here with you for a bit, if that's ok."_

_Jack nodded, pulling his chair closer to the bed, which allowed him to reach over and run his fingers through her hair. "I cannot believe how lucky I am, to have you… to have Julie…" he said, bowing his head and biting his lip, "ten months ago I stood on a bridge and I was willing to just…" Jack joked, dropping his head on to the mattress by Kate's side._

"_Shhh…" Kate whispered, brushing her finger, soothing over his hair, "it doesn't matter, Jack. It doesn't matter anymore. What happened before this, it doesn't matter. This is our second chance."_

* * *

Next Up...

**Chapter 5: ...And Her Sister**  
Guess who's showing up? Who's our savior's sister? More about the other's powers? What's Clementine's role? Ji Yeon's? And a flashback to when the Shephard household welcomed a new member to the family.


	6. And Her Sister

_**I know… I know… most of you have already given up on this fic. I'd be lucky if one person still reads this. But I just wanted you to know that I love you guys, and that I have not given up on this. Also, this story is completely planned out, I just need to find the time to sit down and write. So please don't give up on me.**_

_**Here's Chapter 5. Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

…**And Her Sister**

* * *

Change everything you are

And everything you were

Your number has been called

Fights and battles have begun

Revenge will surely come

Your hard times are ahead

Best,

You've got to be the best

You've got to change the world

And use this chance to be heard

Your time is now

Don't let yourself down

Don't let yourself go

Your last chance has arrived

Butterflies and Hurricanes – Muse

* * *

_**3 August 2016**_

_The phone had rang during dinner, and Kate had disappeared to their bedroom after picking it up. She came back down almost half an hour later to find Jack and Julie still at the dinner table waiting for her. Julie hadn't really noticed her mother's long absence, filling the time telling her father stories about her day at summer camp. Jack on the other hand, while keeping up with his daughter's stories, was growing anxious at Kate's long absence, sneaking glances over his shoulder towards the stairs._

_"Is everything ok?" Jack asked, standing abruptly when he finally saw her coming down the stairs. Kate shot a look, resting her hand on his arm, and nodded, "everything's fine," she said quickly._

_She turned to her daughter, her hand still on Jack's arm, a silent source of support, "Julie, sweetie, are you done with your dinner?" she asked. Julie nodded, "it was great, thanks mom," she said._

_"Why don't you wash up, get into your pj's and you can watch some TV before it's time for bed?" Kate said, politely trying to get her daughter out of the room so she could talk to Jack._

_With Julie out of the room, Jack asked again, "Kate, what's wrong?"_

_"That was Sun's mother on the phone," Kate said solemnly, watching the expectant look on Jack's face, "they have been given final evacuation orders."_

_The entire eastern Asian side had been in danger of incidents for some time, with a few small events occurring in the months leading up to the first calls to evacuation._

_"You mean that...?" Jack began to ask, but couldn't bring himself to finish the question._

_"They've given them a week, after that..." Kate said, also not able to finish the words. The world had already witnessed the entire collapse of Oceania, but it was still surreal to believe that parts of the world are disappearing completely off the face of the planet._

_Kate shook her head and started to busy herself with clearing the table. "Ji Yeon will be here tomorrow afternoon," Kate said. Jack followed her into the kitchen, carrying a few plates himself, "Only Ji Yeon? Not her grandparents?" Jack asked._

_"I don't know..." Kate said, "I asked her, and she said... she isn't sure. Her husband's situation... she is going to try and get him out of there, but she doesn't know how yet." Over the past few years, Mr. Paik's health had taken a fall and with his age, he had been bedridden for a while now, his organs slowly failing him. Transporting him would definitely be an almost impossible task with all the medical equipment and given the situation._

_"We should talk to Hurley," Jack said, "maybe he can help... I'll give him a call now," Jack decided, watching as Kate started to frantically busy herself with the dishes._

_He reached over, touching her elbow gently, whispering for her to turn towards him. He curved his long fingers around her arm comfortably, his thumb rubbing soothing circles over her skin. Her head dropped, her hair covering her face, but he knew she was on the edge of tears. They had grown close to the Paiks over the years since their return. Ji Yeon's grandparents had wanted her to be close to her parents' closest friends and they did not want to make the same mistakes they had made with Sun. Ji Yeon had spent many summers and holidays in Los Angeles with them, becoming practically family._

_Jack pulled Kate to him, holding her securely to her chest, "it'll be ok," he whispered, rocking her gently and planting a kiss to the top of her head._

* * *

**11 December 2030**

Julie and Aaron looked at each other with a shrug and laughed as they pushed open the dirty door of the ominous looking bar. "Are you sure this is the place?" Julie whispered to her cousin as they looked around, getting uncomfortable looks from the people around.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said, gesturing towards the other end of the bar where she stood. She was tall, shoulders broad, and her hair tied in a tight bun. She was a beautiful young woman, but no one dared tell her that, not when she was hustling young Air Force pilots out of their wages in a game of Poker. She snatched the cigar out off the lips of one of the older men and put it off on the side of the table. "This is a nonsmoking joint, asshole!" She snarled at him.

"That's her alright," Julie said when she was a few feet behind her.

"Ford!" Came the voice behind her and she smirked.

"That's Lieutenant Ford to your squirt!" She said as she turned around.

Julie laughed, "it's Ford or Lemontime, take your pick."

Clementine rolled her eyes at Julie mockingly and scanned over the younger woman,

"your forget where the kitchen is at home, squirt?"

"Shut up," Julie said, stepping forward to hug her friend quickly.

Clementine pulled out of the hug and looked over to Aaron, her oldest and best friend.

"You're alive," she said.

"So are you," Aaron said with a smile.

The two of them hugged, a long hug after years of not seeing each other. "Got anywhere private we can talk in this hellhole?" Aaron asked, "if you're done stealing these boys' money that is," he teased.

"We need to get to London," Aaron said once they'd reached the private office.

Clementine cocked her eyebrow at him. He had the entire fleet of Hugo's mission at his dismissal, and as far as she knew, England was still considered very safe, no relief missions had been issued there.

"It's a private personal thing... We cannot take when of the relief's planes," he quickly said, sensing what his friend was thinking, "and they're not flying any commercial flights across the Atlantic anymore."

"What's going on, guys?" Clementine asked.

Julie and Aaron shared a look between them and nodded. Clementine deserved to know the truth as well they decided, regardless of how Jack would feel about them going around telling everyone they needed help from. They took turns explaining what they knew to their friend as she stared on in relative shock.

"So our parents are relatively responsible for the world coming to an untimely end, and you guys are supposed to use your powers to fix it?" Clementine finally said when they were through.

"More or less... And there's a spot on the team if you want in," Aaron said.

"I dunno... Doesn't sound like I've been blessed with any of your superhero powers. I haven't been on the island nor was I conceived there," she retorted.

"Your name was on the cave wall," Aaron explained.

"That could have been my father," she said.

"Clem... We need you. W can't do this without you," Aaron pleaded.

"And you think I can just take one of the planes and take off?" She replied.

Aaron shrugged, "pretty much?"

"I dunno, Aaron," Clementine shook her head.

"You've done it before, Clem," Aaron said quietly.

The three said quietly for a moment, sharing somber looks between them.

"Fine," Clementine finally said, shaking her head, slightly pissed at how well her friends knew her and her love for a good adventure.

Just about as the three were about to leave, Julie's phone rang. She sighed when she saw who the hone was from. She had been ignoring Marcus's calls all day but figured she had to talk to him eventually.

"Hold on, I need to take this," she said, stepping to the corner of the office.

"Marcus, hi..." She spoke into the phone.

"Jules, where've you been?" Marcus said.

"Sorry, I meant to call you I just..." Julie lied.

"They said you've taken a few days off, is everything ok?" Marcus asked quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine," Julie said, "just taking care of some family stuff."

"Anything I can help with?" Marcus asked, genuinely concerned for his girlfriend.

"No, no it's ok... Listen, Marcus, I have to go away for a while," Julie said.

"Where to?" Marcus asked.

"It's... It's just a family thing. You don't need to worry about it. But it might be a while before I come back so..." She said.

"Jules, what're you saying? Why won't you tell me what you're up to I thought..." Marcus said.

"Marcus... It's just this thing it's... I need to do this, I need to focus on this, I can't..." Julie said, her tone apologetic. She never saw her relationship with Marcus as something very serious, but she knew he considered it to be on the contrary.

"Are you breaking up with me? What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Julie?" He asked, his voice exasperated.

"Marcus, I swear if I could tell you I would... But maybe it's best if we just take a break," Julie sighed.

Marcus sat silent for a while. He finally spoke, his voice laced in anger and disappointment, "whatever you want Jules... Take care of yourself."

Julie sighed and shoved the phone back into her pocket. "Is everything ok?" Clementine asked, sensing Julie's change of mood.

"Yeah, fine," Julie said, trying to force a smile on her face.

"Boyfriend trouble?" Clementine teased.

"Actually, yes," Julie said, "ex boyfriend now."

"Oh seriously? I was joking," Clementine said apologetically, "Uncle Jack is letting you date now? I thought he'd make you wait till you're forty," Clementine time joked, sarcasm being her default mode of communication, much like her father.

Julie laughed, "he isn't a big fan of it, but he gave up some time ago. He'll be pleased I just broke up with Marcus, though, he never liked him."

"So what now?" Julie asked.

"Pack up and fly to London?" Aaron suggested, "my bags are still packed."

"I packed up last night," Julie said.

"Don't look at me, I'm always packed," Clementine said.

"Let's go then."

* * *

_**4 August 2016**_

_Ji Yeon stepped out into the arrival lounge of the familiar airport and scanned the faces of the people until she found those waiting for her. Jack and Kate stood smiling as Julie waved her arms excitedly. For all the nine year old knew, her friend was coming over to spend another summer month with them, she was not aware of the circumstances behind her visit. The eleven year old on the other was fully aware, despite her grandparents' attempt to hide the truth from her._

_Ji Yeon was a quiet, shy girl. Losing her parents at a very young age had been something she never quite got over, and it had molded her character. She was an introverted person, shy by nature and always preferred the solitude to being around a lot of people. Being raised by her grandparents was not easy either, neither for her or for them. She did not have many friends, and even found it hard to make friends. However, what she lacked in social skills, she made up for in intellect. _

_Ji Yeon was, as her school teachers put it, a young genius, with intellect way ahead of other children her age. Academically, she was far more advanced for her age than the norm. At eleven years old, she had already grasped advanced physics and mathematics and was already taking university placement classes._

_For all her lack of social skills, Ji Yeon had only ever been close friends with one person, Julie Shephard. Even though they were geographically far from one another, their connection and bond had always remained strong. The first time Ji Yeon had visited them for a long period without her grandparents, her grandmother had been worried of how she might adapt. To everyone's surprise, she and Julie had bonded quickly, despite their young age. It was not a surprise to Jack though, knowing what he did about the children's abilities, he knew that Julie would be able to quickly befriend the young girl._

_Ji Yeon smiled politely, thanking the flight attendant who was helping her as she pointed towards the family who were eagerly welcoming her. "Mr. and Mrs. Shephard?" the flight attendant asked Jack and Kate._

_"Yes," Jack replied, taking Ji Yeon's luggage from the young woman, "thank you so much."_

_Julie jumped up and down, pulling Ji Yeon into a warm embrace, and Kate took the young girls back pack, "how was your flight, dear?" she asked her._

_"Fine," Ji Yeon replied timidly, "thank you."_

_They drove home with Julie in the back talking excitedly, like she always did, updating her friend on every detail of her summer so far. Ji Yeon sat quietly, but with a smile on her face as she listened intently, something rarely seen on her except when she was with Julie._

_They set up Ji Yeon in the guest bedroom, the one she was familiar with from the visits she had spent with them, and after dinner, the young girl excused herself, the jetlag finally setting in and went to bed. Julie soon followed and Kate grabbed the phone and called Mrs. Paik. Jack waited in the living room, watching the news as he did. When Kate walked back in, she took her place next to him, dropping heavily on the couch with a sigh. He was quick to wrap an arm around her and she buried her head in his chest. "Hurley called her earlier today," she said._

_"Okay..."Jack said, waiting for her to give him some good news._

_"They're not... They're just going to stay there," Kate said, the anger evident on her voice._

_"What? Why?" Jack asked in disbelief._

_"She said there is very little hope of moving her husband and him surviving it, she said he's too tired, they both are," Kate explained, "he is ready to die, and if he is going to die anyway, he would rather it be in his home," Kate said sadly," and she won't leave him._

_Jack shook his head and tightened his hold on Kate. He knew she would find this hard to deal with. Sun had been her friend and she had always had a soft spot for Ji Yeon. "How is she going to survive this? She is too young to go through this, again!" Kate said, sobbing at the words, "she already lost her parents, and now her grandparents, in the same way. How can they abandon her?" Kate cried_

_Jack held her tight, letting her cry against his chest, running his hand soothingly through her hair. He spoke softly to her, soothing words trying to calm her down until she pulled back, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. "Jack, promise me we will never abandon her. Promise me we will be here for her always," she said, pleading with her husband._

_Jack nodded, reaching over and holding Kate's face in his hands, "I promise," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her lips gently._

* * *

**12 December 2030**

Clementine managed to get a hold of one of the decommissioned planes, a small plane that wasn't a combat jet but rather one that had been used for recon. She assured her friends that no one would notice it was gone. She met with her superior officer and asked for some time off, which she managed to get considering she had not taken a day off for almost five years.

Aaron convinced Julie to call her father, promise him she wasn't going to do anything stupid and that she would stay safe. He understood that she could not just sit back knowing she might be able to help in more ways than tending to the sick and injured. Aaron in turn also talked to his mother and his uncle promising them both that he'd be careful, and promising his uncle especially that he won't let anything happen to Julie.

They arrived in London in the evening, checked into a hotel and made plans to meet with Ji Yeon in the morning. There was no point in calling her up as she never answered her calls anyway. Early in the morning, they got into a cab and went to the ICRD, the last standing research and development facility in the world dedicated to finding out what exactly was happening and trying to find a solution. Their lead scientist was Ji Yeon Kwon, having started working there six years earlier, at nineteen, just after completing her second doctorate.

They arrived at the ICRD heardquarters and knew they shouldn't expect an easy welcome. The place was known for its high level of security, after being attacked by anarchists and religious extremists over the years.

"We would like to see Dr. Kwon," Julie told the large security guard.

"Do you have an appointment?" He replied dryly, not bothering to look at Julie.

"No we don't, but this is urgent, I'm sure if you..." Julie tried to explain but was rudely interrupted. "No appointment no entrance," he spat at her.

"Sir, please, if you'd just let her now we are here, maybe..." Aaron tried to take a turn negotiating with the guard.

"Listen, this chaotic behavior might work for you Americans, but here, we have rules and we follow them," the guy snarled at him, "no entrance into the facility for anyone who is not an employee or without appointment and permission."

"Could you at least ask her to come meet us out here?" Julie asked again, exasperated and wishing they had called Ji Yeon when they had arrived.

"Dr. Kwon cannot be bothered to come out here to meet you people," he said, rudely swaying with his hand to get them out of his way.

"Listen, Badge," Clemetine finally spoke, "I'm Lt. Ford of the US AIR force and this matter goes way over your pay grade, so either you let us in or I'll make sure the only thing you ever guard is a children's day care."

The large security guard scrunched his brow and glared at the tall woman before him, he kept a disapproving glare fixed on her as he made the call. Aaron and Julie both held their breath, waiting to see if Clementine's bluff would work.

Five minutes later, a slender Ji Yeon came walking into the lobby. She had gotten a call from e guard about three people asking to meet her. She was somewhat shocked to hear that. Everyone knew not to just walk into the facility without appointment, and mostly everyone knew the reason Ji Yeon Kwon, the world's greatest scientific mind worked in a lab was because she wasn't the greatest people person. Her colleagues did all the interviews, all the conferences and all the seminars, all the press conferences and meetings with the press. Ji Yeon stayed in her lab, with numbers and samples and computers, where she knew she belonged.

"Dr. Kwon," the large security guard approached her as she entered the large lobby, "these people are asking to see you, but they have no appointment."

Ji Yeon peered from over the guards shoulder to see whom he was talking about, when she saw three people she had not seen in years. Ji Yeon smiled, a smile that only those very close to her had seen. "It's ok, they're my family," she said.

* * *

_**5 August 2016**_

_Kate pulled on her pajama bottoms and stepped out of the bedroom, walking towards her daughter's room to wake her up and get her ready for camp. To her surprise, Julie was already up and situated outside the room where Ji Yeon was staying, with her ear pressed against the door._

_"Julie!" Kate whispered, "what are you doing?"_

_Julie pulled away from the door, startled, "nothing," she said quickly._

_"Julie," Kate repeated sternly._

_"Mommy, I was only checking to see if Ji Yeon woke up so I can ask her if she wants to go to camp with me," Julie explained innocently._

_"Sweetie, Ji Yeon has had a long flit and she is probably tired," Kate explained, kneeling down to talk to her daughter, "why don't we let her rest today and we will ask her tonight if she wants to join in you camp. If she does she can start tomorrow."_

_"But what will she do today? I don't want her to feel bad that I have to leave her all day," Julie said._

_"Don't worry," Kate said with a smile, "I'll make sure she doesn't get bored today. Ok?"_

_Julie took a moment to consider her mother's offer and then nodded. _

_"Why don't you go to your room and get ready then? Aunt Claire is coming to pick you up this morning and you wouldn't want to keep Aaron waiting, you know how he gets," Kate said and watched as her daughter giggled at the comment._

_Kate walked downstairs, joining her husband for their morning coffee and began preparing breakfast for the family. Twenty minutes later, Julie came skipping down the stairs, fully dressed for the day, and she was closely followed by Ji Yeon, walking slowly and timidly behind the lively nine year old._

_"I'm ready!" She declared when she reached the kitchen._

_"Julie, I thought we agreed you'd let Ji Yeon sleep in!" Her mother closely chastised._

_"But mommy! She was already up! I didn't wake her!" Julie quickly replied, "honest!" She added when her mother continued to give her a scolding look._

_"It's true Aunt Kate, Julie didn't wake me up," Ji Yeon defended her friend immediately, her voice low and respectful._

_Kate chuckled lightly, "alright, you girls come here and get some breakfast," she ushered the girls towards the kitchen table._

_"Good morning, girls," Jack said as he walked in behind them, playfully ruffling his daughter's hair, that was yet to go in to the braids that Kate struggled to maintain every day._

_"Good morning, daddy," Julie gleefully returned the greeting while sipping at her orange juice while Ji Yeon merely smiled at the older man._

_"Breakfast?" Kate asked him when he came to stand next other, placing his coffee mug in the sink._

_"No, I better hit the shower," he said, laying a sweet kiss on her cheek, "you can join me if you want though?" He added playfully._

_"I better take care of these two," Kate replied, giving him an apologetic look._

_"But they're old enough to feed themselves don't you think?" He replied, a mock pout on his lips._

_Kate laughed, playfully smacking him on the arm, "go take your shower!" she said, "maybe I'll come on up to help you dry off in a bit though," she added the last part in a whisper, giving him a sly wink as he walked away._

_"Julie? Did you tell Ji Yeon about the camp yet?" Kate asked, returning her attention to the girls._

_"I was just telling her about it, mom," Julie replied excitedly._

_"You can choose to go with Julie and Aaron to the camp, if you want, Ji Yeon, or if you don't want to... You can do whatever you want," Kate is, not wanting to make the first weeks of her stay harder on the little girl than they needed to be._

_"I think I want to give it a try, but I want to be in the same group as Julie," Ji Yeon said, "but I also have some studies for school that I need to finish over the summer. I don't want to fall behind."_

_Kate swallowed, there would come a time when they will need to explain to the eleven year old that she won't be going back to her school and they would also need to start looking for a place for her to attend, especially given her advanced placement. Ji Yeon's grandmother had already emailed Kate all the paperwork from her old school with all the courses she was attending. Kate was not surprised to see the young girl was already taking university placement classes. She couldn't imagine how proud her parents would have been of her._

_"Don't worry, sweetheart," Kate said, "you can try out the camp for a few days, if you feel you can do that and keep up with your studies then we'll sign you up for the rest of the summer. Also if you want, there are some academic camps you can go to, math camp or science camp, if you'd like."_

_"No it's ok," Ji Yeon said shyly, "I'll go to the one Julie is going to."_

_"Ok," Kate nodded, "come on Julie, let's get your hair fixed before Claire gets here."_

* * *

"I've missed you," Julie said, releasing Ji Yeon from the tight embrace.

Ji Yeon smiled, nodded gently, "me too," she said shyly.

After welcoming embraces between the group, Aaron asked Ji Yeon if there was a place they could talk privately. Of everyone they knew, Ji Yeon was the one who knew most about what has happening to the world, what was really happening, and if there was a way to stop it, the one person in the world to discover it was Ji Yeon. Everyone had thought it was because of her advanced intellect, but the ones who knew now about the secret of the island, knew it was more than just that. If there were a solution it would be her connection to the island that would bring upon this revelation.

Aaron and Julie explained to Ji Yeon everything they had found out in the recent days, from Jacob's visit to Julie, to Aaron's findings in the caves and finally to Jack's information and their "powers".

Ji Yeon's poker face expression never changed throughout. She just looked from one to the other as they relayed the information. When they were finished, she just nodded.

"That's it?" Clementine said, not really shocked at the younger woman's blank reaction. She had never been the most animated, and Clementine never really understood her.

"Well, the information is rather strange… a visit from a supposedly dead man, strange inscriptions with our names in Tunisia and a special island do sound slightly unrealistic, but I do believe they are not totally farfetched. Not your standard, mainstream science, but in this day and age, anything and everything should be considered," Ji Yeon said.

"For God's sake, let her speak English," Clementine whispered in Aaron's ear.

Ji Yeon looked at the ground in front of her, nodding slowly, "come with me," she said.

She took them to her private office, switched on the lights to reveal three full height walls covered with newspaper clippings, old handwritten note, torn out pages from notebooks and a series of maps and graphs. It looked completely different from anything else they had seen from Ji Yeon's and the other scientists' work.

"Ji Yeon, what's all this?" Julie asked.

"This is what I've been working on with Uncle Jack," Ji Yeon said. "What I work on out there is all the official research, the one the rest of the world is also working on, but in here… it's a little bit different."

"A couple of years ago, around the time our research starting hitting one standstill after another, Uncle Jack called me, he said he had information that can help me, but that I had to work on it in private," she said, getting shocked looks from the other three. "He did not tell me anything about the island and our powers. Nothing like that," she quickly explained, "I promise."

"He sent me an old, worn out notepad. He told me it belonged to a physicist who had died some years ago and that his work might be of interest to me. His work was never one that was taken too seriously because it was very theoretical, he never really published his work and he disappeared before he could really take his work to the next level," Ji Yeon explained, "he was also very mentally unstable. His name was Daniel Faraday."

"I studied his notes and while it was all over the place, I managed to find something there, in between all the ramblings, he was onto something. I managed to locate the rest of his material, it was packed away in a box in Oxford's archives, collecting dust. And from his work, I was led to the work of an Anthropologist, Charlotte Lewis, who also disappeared the same time as he did."

"Both their work led back to an island, a special, unique island in the south Pacific," Ji Yeon said, "I believe now it is the island Uncle Jack was talking about."

Ji Yeon sat quiet for a moment, trying to find a way to explain her findings to her friends. No one knew about what she had been researching except for Jack, to whom she would send her findings and discuss with him. She never questioned why Jack knew so much about the issue. He was one of the few people in the world she truly trusted and she was always scared to lose that. Her findings weren't ones that would make sense to most scientists, let alone her three friends.

"Everthing ok?" Julie asked when Ji Yeon was quiet for a long time.

Ji Yeon nodded, "just trying to figure out how to explain this, I've never really had to explain it to anyone… The island was a heavy pocket of electromagnetism, unlike anywhere else on this planet. For so long there was something controlling that electromagnetism, holding it in, but at some point, whatever that is stopped working, the magnetism was released and the physical elements of the island could not withstand the power that was released. That pocket became a hole, like a black hole if you want, and it slowly started sucking everything around it. First he island itself disappeared and then when the hole got stronger, it started sucking in pieces of the earth around it, in growing radii. That was the first incident. And this is what is happening now." Ji Yeon explained.

The other three sat silent, letting that information sink in.

"Can it be stopped?" Aaron asked, "Can it be closed?"

"Theoretically? Yes," Ji Yeon said, "but there are a couple of problem."

"Just a couple? Like what?" Clementine asked.

"Well first, we need someone or something who would not disintegrate if they came close to the hole," Ji Yeon said, "and second we need someone who can find the hole."

"I thought you said it is in the South Pacific?" Clementine asked.

"It was," Ji Yeon saod.

"Excuse me?" Aaron asked.

"The first incident was in the South Pacific, as were the incidents until 2022, then they suddenly moved to the Indian Ocean and then most recently the Atlantic." Ji Yeon said.

"What does that mean?" Clementine asked.

"Part of the uniqueness of this island," Ji Yeon said, "it does not adhere to our natural understanding of geography. It moves on its own accord."

"We can stop this," Julie finally said, after remaining silence throughout.

All three heads cocked towards her, shaking in obvious question.

"Jacob he said we need to get everyone, dad said that each one of us has a power… what if… what if our powers together, if we work together… this is what we are supposed to do, all of us together we can beat this! We can find the source, we can fight it, we can stop it," Julie said vehemently.

She truly believed that, saving the world, saving everyone. Her father might not believe in her, but from the day that Jacob came to her, she had had that feeling of purpose.

"Jules, we don't know what to do exactly?" Aaron said.

"Why don't we start with finding everyone else," Julie said.

"Who's everyone else?" Clementine asked.

"Aaron, who were the names in the cave?" Julie asked her cousin.

"Us, Walt Lloyd and Charlie Hume," Aaron asked.

"Guys? Ji Yeon, can you leave your work here?" Julie asked.

* * *

_**6 August 2016**_

_Ji Yeon had gone to camp with Julie and Aaron the day before and seemed to enjoy it. According to Julie, her friend had not participated in much of the activities and kept to herself, watching the other children, but she had sincerely enjoyed herself._

_Jack and Kate were up early for a Saturday morning, watching the news, hoping to hear some good news about Korea. "You have work today?" Kate asked, handing Jack a fresh cup of coffee._

_"No, I don't but I was thinking of going down to the clinic and helping out. Hurley said they have a lot of people coming in, you know, with all the refugees the last week," Jack said, "what about you? Any plans?"_

_"I have to do some shopping. I thought I'd take the girls with me, see if Ji Yeon needs anything," she replied, "and maybe we will join you later, help around a bit. I'll talk to Claire, see if she and Aaron want to come along."_

_"Oh, Aaron is already there," Jack laughed, Hurley sent me a message that the kid was there at 6 am."_

_"You're kidding," Kate chuckled, "he is amazing, that boy is just..." Kate shook her head. She was so proud of the boy she was once a mother too. Despite his relatively young age, he was very eager about the cause, helping and volunteering after and before school, during his holidays and whenever he had a spare moment._

_Kate placed her cup next to Jack's on the table and snuggle up to him, resting her head on his chest as they silently watched the news. The two sat for a while, it was quiet in the room but still neither heard the soft footsteps coming down the stairs._

_"Good morning," came the gentle voice that startled them both._

_"Hi... Ji Yeon," Kate said, sitting up quickly, while Jack promptly switched the channel, not wanting the girl to see the news of what was happening to her home._

_"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Ji Yeon replied apologetically after seeing how the two adults reacted._

_"No don't worry, we just didn't hear you," Jack assured her, "have seat."_

_"Would you like to drink anything? Orange juice? Milk?" Kate offered._

_"Orange juice, please," she replied as she sat on the couch._

_Kate got up to fetch the drink, leaving Jack and Ji Yeon sitting silence until the young girl spoke softly, "can I ask you something, Uncle Jack?"_

_"Of course," Jack replied, moving closer to the edge of his seat._

_"You were with them, weren't you? My parents, I mean, when they..." She asked, "I know about the island, that my mother went back for my father and that you were with them..."_

_Jack stared at her in shock, no one knew about their return to the island. The little girl should be under the impression that her father died in the first crash and that her mother died in a car crash a few years later._

_"How... How do you know?" Jack asked._

_"My grandmother... She said she didn't want to lie to me anymore. She told me last year... You were with them, right?"_

_Jack nodded, swallowing hard, "yes, I was. But Ji Yeon you cannot tell anyone, you know that right?"_

_Ji Yeon nodded somberly. Her grandmother had not given her any details about how they died exactly, and Ji Yeon believed her when she said that she honestly did not know the details. She told her that her parents' friends weren't telling the world the whole story to protect themselves and that Ji Yeon should not blame them or resent them for that._

_"Can you tell me how they died?" Ji Yeon asked. Her voice was low and emotionless, but Jack could see the pain in the little girl's eyes._

_"You don't need to..." Jack said, trying to spare her the pain of knowing, and spare himself the painful memories, "are you sure you want to hear this?" He asked._

_"Yes. Please," Ji Yeon urged._

_Jack nodded, "Ok... We went back because we had left some people there, your father was one of them, so were Claire and Sawyer... We had managed to get on a submarine and we were trying to leave, but there was a bomb," Jack explained, trying to leave as many of the darker truths out of the story, "but the submarine... There was an explosion and it starting to sink. We tried to all make it out, but your parents, they couldn't make it out."_

_"Did they suffer?" Ji Yeon asked, her voice cracking with the words._

_Jack shook his head, "no, they went peacefully," he tried to say calmly._

_"They couldn't have made it out like the rest of you?" She asked._

_"They tried, but... They couldn't. I... I tried to help them, but your dad... He was so brave, one of the most courageous men I ever knew, he told me to get out," Jack said sadly, "they both loved you very much, you know, even though your daddy never met you, I remember how excited he was when he found out your mommy was pregnant. And I know they tried as hard as they could to come back for you... But they knew your grandparents will take care of you, they knew you would be happy and safe with them. I'm sure they are both so proud of the young woman you have become."_

_Jack looked up. He saw the heartbroken look on Ji Yeon's face, and he also saw the one on Kate's as she stood behind her, having heard most of the conversation. _

_"My grandparents aren't coming are they?" Ji Yeon asked, shocking the two adults._

_"What... What makes you say that, sweetie?" Kate asked, handing the girl the glass of juice and coming to sit next to Jack._

_"I know what is happening... And I know grandpa is sick and that grandma won't leave him. They left me with you and they believe you will take care of me, like my parents did. They are leaving me here and they are going to die... Everyone leaves me and dies," she said, whispering the last part with a tear._

_Kate's heart broke for the little girl who had seen more pain and sorrow in her life than she deserved. She quickly rose from her seat and went to her, wrapping an arm around her, holding her close and letting her cry, the first time Ji Yeon had ever cried for anyone._

_"Honey, this is not... Your parents and your grandparents... They loved you so so so much. And if they could they would be here with you," Kate tried to soothe her; unable to hold her own tears back._

* * *

**13 December 2030**

The flight back to New York was planned for early in the morning until Clementine changed their plans, pushing their flight back a few hours to meet with someone. She was gone a few hours, mysteriously leaving without telling everyone where she was going.

"What's up Clem?" Aaron asked when she walked into their hotel room.

"Just needed to grab some supplied for our return trip," Clementine said.

"I thought we agreed a long time ago we would never lie to each other," he said.

"Aaron…" Clementine said, urging her friend to let it go.

""Clem, you're my best friend, and if you want to have secrets, I would never pry, but if we are going to do this, together, we can't be keeping secrets that would risk anyone's life ok?" Aaron said.

"Aaron, you know I would never do that," Clementine said.

"I know," Aaron said.

They sat in silence for a while, waiting for Ji Yeon and Julie to meet them in order to leave.

"I'm looking for my father," Clementine finally said.

James Ford had disappeared in 2027, he had left for Asia in 2023 and no one had heard from him since 2027. Most people had accepted that he had passed away, but not his daughter.

"Clem," Aaron said softly, "your dad is…"

"He is alive, Aaron, and now I have proof," Clementine said wit ha wide smile stretching across her face.

"What?" Aaron said.

"The person I was meeting with today, he has been helping me the last two years, and I know my dad is alive," Clementine said.

"How long have you been looking for him Clem?" Aaron asked.

"Since the day he supposedly disappeared," Clementine chuckled sadly.

"So… does that mean you want to leave now, to find him?" Aaron asked.

Clementine shook her head, "I was thinking we could do it together… We are going to have to look for Lloyd and Hume right? My dad was on that island, he probably an help us if we find him, Aaron. Your uncle won't be helping us, so why not try my dad?" she said.

"What if he doesn't want to help either? He and uncle Jack aren't all that different by the way," Aaron said.

"He's my father, Aaron, I cannot just not try to find him," Clementine said, "and I cannot not help you guys either…"

"I think we should find Uncle James," came Julie's voice.

"Jules? When did you…?" Aaron asked, startled to see his cousin standing behind him.

"Doesn't matter, but I agree with Clem… Uncle James can help," she said.

* * *

_Kate and Jack prepared breakfast while the girls watched tv. Ji Yeon seemed to have calmed down, sitting quietly on the couch while Julie sat the floor, commenting on everything that was happening on the screen in front of her._

_Julie finally sat silently long enough to notice her friend had not said a word all morning, which was strange even for her. "Are you ok?" She asked, noticing how the other girl wasn't even looking at the tv, but staring at the floor._

_Ji Yeon nodded slightly, "my grandparents aren't coming here," she said._

_"Where are they going to go?" Julie asked innocently._

_"No where," Ji Yeon said, "they are going to stay there."_

_"I don't understand," Julie said, ""you are going to go back after summer break, right?"_

_"Julie, honey, Ji Yeon is going to stay with us from now on, summer and winter," Kate explained, relieving the eleven year old from having to explain to her daughter._

_"You're going to live with us!?" Julie exclaimed in excitement._

_Ji Yeon nodded. "Then we can be like sisters!" Julie added, jumping to her feet, "right mommy?"_

_"Sure, sweetheart," Kate said, a smile drawing on her lips. _

_"Do you to be like sisters, Ji Yeon?" Julie asked._

_Ji Yeon considered the thought for a moment. She never knew what it would be like to have a sibling and never thought about it. She lived with her grandparents and her parents were dead, so the notion never existed. But sitting there, with her one true friend and the two adults she always knew cared for her dearly, she let herself consider that elusive idea. She finally smiled, a small shy smile and nodded._

_Jack and Kate watched ghetto girls have breakfast, glad of the bond created between the two girls, one that they both needed desperately. "They're lucky," Jack whispered._

_Kate nodded, having been an only child, both her and Jack, they both knew how much having a sibling would make a difference. "They are, I always wished I had a sister," she replied._

_"No I mean, they're lucky to have you as their mother, their role model," Jack explained, "I cannot imagine a better role model for these two very special girls. They're going to be just fine with you to look up to, smart, brave, strong, caring... They're very lucky."_

_Kate looked up at him, saw him watching her with his warm brown eyes flooding with pride and love. She felt her heart swell in her chest, leaning into to him, she rose onto her tip toes and planted a sweet kiss on his lips._

_"I love you."_

* * *

So, still interested?

Next Chapter: **Ghosts From the Island…**

Beloved characters believed to be dead reappear to give the young heroes much needed advice and guidance.


End file.
